GM Ireland sees profits fall 35% despite revenue rise

Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of General Motors last year declined by 35% to €510,000 in spite of a jump in revenues.

Figures show that the maker of Opel cars, General Motors Ireland Ltd, saw revenues rise 26.5%, from €69.67m to €88.17m, in the 12 months to the end of December last.

According to the directors’ report, “total industry market share in 2013 was 6.2% vs 6.1% in 2012. This share was based off an overall market that was 5% down on the previous year.”

They state: “The medium term objective is to have a sustainable 8% new vehicle market share, growing share in line with our new product cadence.”

The directors add that “in spite of the difficult trading conditions, the business is well positioned to compete in the new vehicle sales and after sales markets.

Statistics from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show that GM (Opel) last year trailed Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, and Nissan in terms of market share, but was ahead of Skoda, Audi, BMW, and Kia.

Volkswagen was the market leader last year with its Golf model the best selling car while the Astra was GM-Opel’s best seller.

The GM directors said they are planning to introduce

27 new models and 17 new engines by 2018 across Europe.

Accumulated profits at the firm at the end of last year stood at €2m.