GM CEO Mary Barra Sees 'Huge Opportunity' In China

General Motors CEO Mary Barra was interviewed by CNBC on Thursday “Squawk on the Street” show. She shared insight into the company’s quarterly earnings and what’s ahead.

Barra On Earnings: Barra highlighted the third-quarter earnings that General Motors Company GM reported earlier Thursday morning.

General Motors saw “strong demand for our products” in the third quarter, the CEO said. 

Barra highlighted the higher average sales price for vehicles in the third quarter.

A “very strong performance at GM Financial” was also pointed out by Barra.

GM's Truck Market Share: The strategy for General Motors recently has been to cover all parts of the truck market, from the value side to the high feature models, said Barra.

The company saw “higher average transaction prices” in the truck market for the quarter, she said. 

Barra said she believes the demand for trucks from General Motors will be permanent.

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GM's Nikola Partnership: Barra was asked about the partnership General Motors signed with Nikola Corporation NKLA.

“We are continuing discussions with Nikola,” the CEO said. 

Barra said she had “nothing to announce at this time” and the company will provide further updates at the appropriate time.

General Motors extended its deadline to complete a partnership with Nikola and currently has a Dec. 3 deadline.

Barra On Stimulus, COVID-19: Barra said we need to “work as a country to get COVID under control.”

The General Motors CEO said a potential new stimulus would be a positive for increased demand for the company’s products.

Growth In China: The company’s Chinese joint venture reported $11 billion in revenue for the third quarter. This was an improvement on the prior year’s third-quarter total of $9.7 billion and the prior quarter’s $9.2 billion.

General Motors had deliveries of over 771,000 in the third quarter for China. That grew from 462,000 and 714,000 in the first two respective quarters of this fiscal year. The total also beat last year’s third quarter total of over 690,000.

“We see recovery overall from an industry perspective.”

Barra said the company believes the recovery in China will continue.

“We were pleased with our performance” in China, Barra said.

The Wuling Mini was highlighted by Barra during the interview. The electric vehicle was the top-selling EV in China for the third quarter, beating Tesla Inc TSLA.

Barra said General Motors has a “huge opportunity” in China.

GM Price Action: General Motors shares were up 3.83% to $36.59 at last check Thursday. 

Benzinga file photo.