AD MAGAZINE 342

13 AutoData | March 2018 What about markets where GM does not have good results it does not get ... GM is number one in South America, we made investments, our brand has a very strong recognition here, almost the best in theworld. South America is a key point, strategic and focus of GM. It’s not me who says that, it’s Mary [Mary Barra, global CEO]. I really think about this, it is linked to the work we did during the crisis. If we were out of balance today, without improving profitability, I do not know if the answer would be the same. In fact, neither should it be: we are in a business in which the investment must generate return for the shareholders. But the way we are, with growth prospects added to the investments, I understand that you will hardly find a GM moment in the past better than the current one. GMwants to be ahead in connectivity in the region. What are the plans? We were the first with MyLink and then we added OnStar. Andwewill have even more, revolutionary items in this market, things that the customer does not ex- pect, especially in entry-level cars. GM has a global view of three zeros: zero emissions, zero crash and zero conges- tion. At the same time GM is developing its car-sharing brand, Maven, which we is expanding in Brazil and Argentina, because we think there is an important need, and we will be able to do that be- cause we have OnStar. You can even do that without it, but the way we solve it is very useful, very good for the client. Wewant to lead the sharingworld-wide, not only in the United States, but also to lead the electrification in South America and Mercosul. Is GM seeing a radical change in the bu- siness model? If we look at the next ten, fifteen years, I think therewill be na importante change. The transportation services segment will be a part of GM’s DNA, no doubt. Do you have a clear vision of what is about to come, including the autono- mous? The exact business model of the auto- nomous world I do not know. There will still be a lot of testing, we have a lot to learn and absorb up to this point. The important thing is that to understand the business model of the autonomous car world the first thing required is to have a standalone car. And GMwill have one, commercially viable, on the street next year. It is now leaving the production line, not being handmade. The amount of in- formationwe generate daily through the testswe do almost nobody has. There are a lot of people saying ‘it’s going to be like this or like that’, but they forget about one thing: technology is not simple. It is very difficult, it is far from being a commodity. Evolution is step by step, but we will get to the marke before others