By Joseph White
DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra said on Thursday demand for the American automaker’s vehicles remains strong and it expects U.S. new-vehicle sales to rebound next year.
Barra said she expects 2023 U.S. sales of new cars and light trucks to finish at 15 million units. That would be up from an estimated 13.7 million in 2022 and in line with an expected 14.7 million in 2023, according to S&P Global Mobility.
“We are seeing strong demand for our vehicles,” Barra said, speaking at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit.
Barra said GM is planning “to be very conservative on costs” in its 2023 budgeting, in light of uncertainty about economic growth. “No one really knows” how the economy will fare, she said.
As chair of the Business Roundtable, a group of U.S. corporate CEOs, Barra earlier this week signed on to a forecast that the U.S. economy could grow by just 1.2% in 2023.
(Reporting by Joseph White; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
