"I would rather be a highly profitable, great shareholder value, great reputation, growing No. 2 than a struggling No. 1," Lutz told reporters after a speech at the Automotive News World Congress.
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp <GM.N> vice chairman and product chief Bob Lutz said on Wednesday he would rather see a strong GM even if it were No. 2 in worldwide sales than a less profitable No. 1 automaker.
"I would rather be a highly profitable, great shareholder value, great reputation, growing No. 2 than a struggling No. 1," Lutz told reporters after a speech at the Automotive News World Congress.
GM released final 2007 global sales figures on Wednesday of 9.37 million vehicles. Toyota Motor Corp's <7203.T> preliminary figures came in about the same, with a source disclosing to Reuters a Toyota figure that left GM as the world's largest automaker.
"I would almost say that being No. 2 for a while if it happens, and it well may because they are in a lot of areas that are growing faster than we are, it may be a powerful motivator for GM employees," Lutz said.
!ADVERTISEMENT!(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Gary Hill)
