General Motors - 10-K annual report 2017

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Item 1. Business

In addition to the vehicles we sell through our dealer network to retail customers, we also sell vehicles directly or through our dealer network to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies and governments. Our customers can obtain a wide range of aftersale vehicle services and products through our dealer network, such as maintenance, light repairs, collision repairs, vehicle accessories and extended service warranties.

The sales and market share data provided in the table above includes both fleet vehicle sales and sales to retail customers. Certain fleet transactions, particularly sales to daily rental car companies, are generally less profitable than sales to retail customers. A significant portion of the sales to daily rental car companies are recorded as operating leases under U.S. GAAP with no recognition of revenue at the date of initial delivery due to guaranteed repurchase obligations. The following table summarizes estimated fleet sales and those sales as a percentage of total retail vehicle sales (vehicles in thousands):

The following table summarizes United States fleet sales (vehicles in thousands):

We and our joint ventures enter into a contract with each authorized dealer agreeing to sell to the dealer one or more specified product lines at wholesale prices and granting the dealer the right to sell those vehicles to retail customers from an approved location. Our dealers often offer more than one GM brand at a single dealership in a number of our markets. Authorized dealers offer parts, accessories, service and repairs for GM vehicles in the product lines that they sell using GM parts and accessories. Our dealers are authorized to service GM vehicles under our limited warranty program and those repairs are made only with GM parts. Our dealers generally provide their customers with access to credit or lease financing, vehicle insurance and extended service contracts provided by GM Financial and other financial institutions.

The quality of GM dealerships and our relationship with our dealers and distributors are critical to our success as dealers maintain the primary sales and service interface with the end consumer of our products. In addition to the terms of our contracts with our dealers we are regulated by various country and state franchise laws and regulations that may supersede those contractual terms and impose specific regulatory requirements and standards for initiating dealer network changes, pursuing terminations for cause and other contractual matters.

Our global vehicle architecture development is headquartered at our Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Cross-segment part sharing is an essential enabler to our Vehicle Set Strategy, designed to reduce our overall number of global vehicle architectures to four major vehicle sets. As we implement the four vehicle sets, we will continue to leverage our current architecture portfolio to accommodate our customers around the world while achieving our financial goals.

We are actively testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in San Francisco, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Warren, Michigan. Additionally, we plan to develop an integrated network of on-demand autonomous vehicles in the U.S. In November

We signed a co-development agreement and established a nonconsolidated JV with Honda Motor Company in 2016 for a next-generation fuel cell system and hydrogen storage technologies, aiming for the 2020 timeframe for commercialization. The collaboration expects to succeed by sharing expertise, economies of scale and common sourcing strategies and builds upon GM's and Honda Motor Company's strengths as leaders in hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Environmental and Regulatory Matters

The U.S. federal government imposes stringent emission control requirements on vehicles sold in the U.S., and various state governments impose additional emission requirements established by California. Canada’s federal government vehicle emission requirements are generally aligned with the U.S. federal requirements. Each model year we must obtain certification for each test group that our vehicles will meet emission requirements from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before we can sell vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, and from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) before we can sell vehicles in California and other states that have adopted the California emissions requirements.

CARB's latest emission requirements include more stringent exhaust emission and evaporative emission standards including an increase in ZEVs which must be offered for sale in California. CARB has adopted 2018 model year and later requirements for increasing volumes of ZEVs to achieve GHG as well as criteria pollutant emission reductions to help achieve the state's long-term GHG reduction goals. The Canadian Province of Quebec also plans to adopt ZEV requirements starting with the 2018 model year largely based on California program requirements. There is a possibility that additional jurisdictions could adopt ZEV requirements in the future. The EPA has adopted similar exhaust emission and evaporative emission standards which began a multi-year phase-in with the 2017 model year, but do not include ZEV requirements. These new requirements will also increase the time and mileage periods over which manufacturers are responsible for a vehicle's emission performance.

The Clean Air Act permits states that have areas with air quality compliance issues to adopt the California emission standards in lieu of the federal requirements. Thirteen states currently have these standards in effect and 10 of these 13 states have adopted the ZEV requirements.

China implemented the China 5 emission standard nationwide at the beginning of 2017. China 5 is more stringent than the previous program on all levels including overall emission requirements and the time and mileage period for which vehicles need to meet China 5 level performance. China will implement a unique China 6 emission standard that combines elements of both European and U.S. standards, includes more stringent emission requirements and increases the time and mileage periods over which manufacturers are responsible for a vehicle's emission performance. Nationwide implementation for new registrations is expected in July 2020 for China 6a and July 2023 for the more stringent China 6b standard. However, localities can pull ahead China 6 requirements if certain criteria are met. Some cities may implement China 6 as early as January 2019.

As a result of the sale of the Opel/Vauxhall Business, GM’s vehicle presence in Europe will be smaller, but GM may be affected by actions taken by regulators related to products sold before the sale of the Opel/Vauxhall Business and future products sold by GM in Europe. For example, in Germany, a number of automotive manufacturers, including our former German subsidiary, have participated in continuing discussions with German and European Union authorities concerning emissions control systems. In the European Union, increased scrutiny of compliance with emissions standards may result in changes to these standards, including implementation of “real world driving” emissions (RDE) tests, as well as stricter interpretations or redefinition of these standards and more rigorous enforcement. This may lead to increased costs, penalties, and lack of certainty related to product portfolio planning, negative publicity or reputation impact for us. In the long-term, we expect that the European Commission will continue devising regulatory requirements on the emission test cycle, RDE, low temperature testing, fuel evaporation and OBD.

China has two fuel economy requirements for passenger vehicles: an individual vehicle pass-fail type approval requirement and a fleet average fuel consumption requirement. The current China Phase 4 fleet fuel consumption requirement is effective from 2016-2020. China Phase 4 is based on curb weight with full compliance to 5.0L/100 km required by 2020. China Phase 4 has continued subsidies for plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell vehicles. China Phase 5 is currently being developed with a planned start in 2021 with full compliance to 4.0L/100km required by 2025. China recently announced the details of the New Energy Vehicle Mandate. This will require passenger car manufacturers to produce a certain volume of plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel cells vehicles to generate "credits" equivalent to 10% in 2019 and 12% in 2020. The number of credits per car is based on the level of E-range and energy efficiency.

Regulators in other jurisdictions have already adopted or are developing fuel economy or carbon dioxide regulations. If regulators in these jurisdictions seek to impose and enforce emission standards that are misaligned with market conditions, we may be forced to take various actions to increase market support programs for more fuel-efficient vehicles and curtail production of certain high-performance cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in order to achieve compliance. We regularly evaluate our current and future product plans and strategies for compliance with fuel economy and GHG regulations.

In addition to minimizing our impact on the environment, our landfill-free program and total waste reduction commitments generate revenue from the sale of production by-products, reduce our use of material, reduce our carbon footprint and help to reduce the risks and financial liabilities associated with waste disposal.

Globally, governmental agencies continue to introduce new legislation and regulations related to the selection and use of chemicals by mandating broad prohibitions or restrictions and implementing green chemistry, life cycle analysis and product stewardship initiatives. These initiatives give broad regulatory authority to ban or restrict the use of certain chemical substances and potentially affect automobile manufacturers' responsibilities for vehicle components at the end of a vehicle's life, as well as chemical selection for product development and manufacturing. Global treaties and initiatives such as the Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam Conventions on Chemicals and Waste and the Minamata Convention on Mercury, are driving chemical regulations across signatory countries. In addition, more global jurisdictions are establishing substance standards with regard to Vehicle Interior Air Quality.

China prohibits the use of several chemical substances in vehicles. There are also various regulations in China stipulating the requirements for chemical management. Among other things, these regulations catalogue and restrict the use and the import and export of various chemical substances. The failure of our joint venture partners or our suppliers to comply with these regulations could disrupt production in China or prevent our joint venture partners from selling the affected products in the China market.

These emerging regulations will potentially lead to increases in costs and supply chain complexity. We believe that we are materially in compliance with substantially all of these requirements or expect to be materially in compliance by the required dates.

Outside the U.S. safety standards and recall regulations often have the same purpose as the U.S. standards but may differ in their requirements and test procedures, adding complexity to regulatory compliance.

GM Financial provides retail loan and lease lending across the credit spectrum. Additionally GM Financial offers commercial products to dealers that include new and used vehicle inventory financing and dealer loans, which are loans to finance improvements to dealership facilities, to provide working capital, and to purchase and/or finance dealership real estate. Other commercial products include financing for parts and accessories, dealer fleets and storage centers.

In North America GM Financial's retail automobile finance programs include full credit spectrum lending and leasing. The sub-prime lending program is primarily offered to consumers with FICO scores less than 620 who have limited access to automobile financing through banks and credit unions and is expected to sustain a higher level of credit losses than prime lending. The leasing product is offered through our franchised dealers and primarily targets prime consumers leasing new vehicles. GM Financial has expanded its leasing and prime lending programs through our franchised dealers, and as a result, leasing and prime lending have become a larger percentage of originations and the retail portfolio balance.

Internationally GM Financial’s retail automobile finance programs focus on financing new GM vehicles and select used vehicles.

Generally GM Financial seeks to fund its operations in each country through local sources to minimize currency and country risk. GM Financial primarily finances its loan, lease and commercial origination volume through the use of secured and unsecured credit facilities, through securitization transactions where such markets are developed and through the issuance of unsecured debt in public markets.

There are no family relationships between any of the officers named above and there is no arrangement or understanding between any of the officers named above and any other person pursuant to which he or she was selected as an officer. Each of the officers named above was elected by the Board of Directors to hold office until the next annual election of officers and until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. The Board of Directors elects the officers immediately following each annual meeting of the stockholders and may appoint other officers between annual meetings.

Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act) are available free of charge through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The public may read and copy the materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Additionally the SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information. The address of the SEC's website is www.sec.gov.

We have listed below (not necessarily in order of importance or probability of occurrence) the most significant risk factors applicable to us:

In addition to increased competition, Chinese regulators have announced aggressive policy initiatives and quotas for the sale of electric vehicles.

Certain risks and uncertainties of doing business in China are solely within the control of the Chinese government, and Chinese law regulates the scope of our foreign investments and business conducted within China. In order to maintain access to the Chinese market, we may be required to comply with significant technical and other regulatory requirements that are unique to the Chinese market, at times with challenging lead-time to implement such requirements. These actions may increase the cost of doing business in China and reduce our profitability.

Domestic manufacturers in lower cost countries, such as China and India, have become competitors in key emerging markets and announced their intention to export their products to established markets as a low cost alternative to established entry-level automobiles. In addition, foreign governments may decide to implement tax and other policies that favor their domestic manufacturers at the expense of international manufacturers, including GM and its joint venture partners. These actions have had, and are expected to continue to have, a significant negative effect on our vehicle pricing, market share and operating results.

Portions of our information technology systems also may experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors due to regular maintenance efforts, such as systems integration or migration work that takes place from time to time. We may not be successful in implementing new systems and transitioning data, which could cause business disruptions and be more expensive, time-consuming, disruptive and resource intensive. Such disruptions could adversely impact our ability to design, manufacture and sell products and services, and interrupt other business processes.

We expect that to comply with fuel economy and emission control requirements we will be required to sell a significant volume of electric vehicles, as well as develop and implement new technologies for conventional internal combustion engines, all at increased cost levels. There are limits on our ability to achieve fuel economy improvements over a given time frame, however. There is no assurance that we will be able to produce and sell vehicles that use such new technologies on a profitable basis or that our customers will purchase such vehicles in the quantities necessary for us to comply with these regulatory programs.

In the current uncertain regulatory framework, environmental liabilities for which we may be responsible and that are not reasonably estimable could be substantial. Alleged violations of safety or emissions standards could result in legal proceedings, the recall of one or more of our products, negotiated remedial actions, fines, restricted product offerings or a combination of any of those items. Any of these actions could have substantial adverse effects on our operations including facility idling, reduced employment, increased costs and loss of revenue.

The primary factors that could adversely affect GM Financial's business and operations and reduce its ability to provide financing services at competitive rates include the availability of borrowings under its credit facilities to fund its retail and commercial finance activities; its ability to access a variety of financing sources including the asset-backed securities market and other secured and unsecured debt markets; the performance of loans and leases in its portfolio, which could be materially affected by delinquencies, defaults or prepayments; wholesale auction values of used vehicles; higher than expected vehicle return rates and the residual value performance on vehicles GM Financial leases to customers; fluctuations in interest rates and currencies; and changes to regulation, supervision and licensing across various jurisdictions, including new regulations or sanctions imposed in the U.S. by the Department of Justice, SEC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Our defined benefit pension plans are currently underfunded and our pension funding requirements could increase significantly due to a reduction in funded status as a result of a variety of factors, including weak performance of financial markets, declining interest rates, changes in laws or regulations, changes in assumptions or investments that do not achieve

Our future funding requirements for our U.S. defined benefit pension plans depend upon the future performance of assets placed in trusts for these plans, the level of interest rates used to determine funding levels, the level of benefits provided for by the plans and any changes in laws and regulations. Future funding requirements generally increase if the discount rate decreases or if actual asset returns are lower than expected asset returns, assuming other factors are held constant. We estimate future contributions to these plans using assumptions with respect to these and other items. Changes to those assumptions could have a significant effect on future contributions.

There are additional risks due to the complexity and magnitude of our investments. Examples include implementation of significant changes in investment policy, insufficient market liquidity in particular asset classes and the inability to quickly rebalance illiquid and long-term investments.

Factors which affect future funding requirements for our U.S. defined benefit plans generally affect the required funding for non-U.S. plans. Certain plans outside the U.S. do not have assets and therefore the obligation is funded as benefits are paid. If local legal authorities increase the minimum funding requirements for our non-U.S. plans, we could be required to contribute more funds.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Item 2. Properties

We have manufacturing, assembly, distribution, office or warehousing operations in 35 countries, including equity interests in associated companies which perform manufacturing, assembly or distribution operations. The major facilities outside the U.S., which are principally vehicle manufacturing and assembly operations, are located in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

GM Financial owns or leases facilities for administration and regional credit centers. GM Financial has 39 facilities, of which 27 are located in the U.S. The major facilities outside the U.S. are located in Brazil, Canada, China and Mexico.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

 

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

This Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) should be read in conjunction with the accompanying audited consolidated financial statements and notes. Forward-looking statements in this MD&A are not guarantees of future performance and may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Refer to the "Forward-Looking Statements" section of this MD&A and Item 1A. "Risk Factors" for a discussion of these risks and uncertainties.

We face continuing challenges from a market, operating and regulatory standpoint in a number of countries across the globe due to, among other factors, weak economic conditions, competitive pressures, our product portfolio offerings, emissions standards, foreign exchange volatility and political uncertainty. As a result of these conditions, we continue to strategically assess our performance and ability to achieve acceptable returns on our invested capital. Refer to Item1A. Risk Factors for a discussion of these challenges. As we continue to assess our performance, additional restructuring and rationalization actions may be required or determination may be made that the carrying amount of our long-lived assets may not be recoverable in certain of these countries. Such a determination may give rise to future asset impairments or other charges which may have a material impact on our results of operations.

GM Korea Company (GM Korea) entered into a collectively bargained wage agreement which was ratified by its union in January 2018. The impact of the agreement was not material to our consolidated financial statements.

We have had recent discussions with key stakeholders in GM Korea, including its minority owners and union, regarding the need to improve GM Korea's financial and operational performance. As we strategically assess our performance and the manner in which we operate in Korea and certain other countries, additional restructuring and rationalization actions may be required and may have a material impact on our results of operations.

Although we do not believe there is a safety defect at this time in any unrecalled GM vehicles within scope of the Takata DIRs, in cooperation with NHTSA we filed Preliminary DIRs on May 27, 2016, updated as of June 13, 2016, covering 2.5 million of certain of our GMT900 vehicles, which are full-size pick-up trucks and SUVs. On November 15, 2016, we filed a petition for inconsequentiality and request for deferral of determination regarding those GMT900 vehicles. On November 28, 2016, NHTSA granted GM’s deferral request in connection with this petition. The deferral provides GM until August 31, 2017 to present evidence and analysis that our vehicles do not pose an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.

We filed a second set of Preliminary DIRs for certain GMT900 vehicles on January 10, 2017. These January 2017 DIRs are consistent with GM’s May 2016 DIRs. On the same day, we also filed a second petition for inconsequentiality and deferral of decision with respect to the vehicles subject to our January 2017 DIRs. On January 18, 2017, NHTSA consolidated our first and second petitions for inconsequentiality and will rule on both at the same time.

On August 25, 2017, we filed a supplemental brief in support of our petitions that provided NHTSA with the results of our long-term study and testing and the basis for our determination that the inflators in these vehicles do not present an unreasonable risk to safety and that no repair should ultimately be required. In our brief, we requested that NHTSA grant our petitions or, in the alternative, grant an additional deferral period to provide time for further testing.

We filed a third set of Preliminary DIRs for certain GMT900 vehicles on January 9, 2018. These January 2018 DIRs are consistent with GM's May 2016 DIRs and January 2017 DIRs. On the same day, we also filed a third petition for inconsequentiality with respect to the vehicles subject to our January 2018 DIRs.

We believe these vehicles are currently performing as designed and ongoing testing continues to support the belief that the vehicles' unique design and integration mitigates against inflator propellant degradation and rupture risk. For example, the airbag inflators used in the vehicles are a variant engineered specifically for our vehicles, and include features such as greater venting, unique propellant wafer configurations, and machined steel end caps. The inflators are packaged in the instrument panel in such a way as to minimize exposure to moisture from the climate control system. Also, these vehicles have features that minimize the maximum temperature to which the inflator will be exposed, such as larger interior volumes and standard solar absorbing windshields and side glass.

Accordingly, no warranty provision has been made for any repair associated with our vehicles subject to the Preliminary DIRs and amended consent order. However, in the event we are ultimately obligated to repair the vehicles subject to current or future Takata DIRs under the amended consent order in the U.S., we estimate a reasonably possible impact to GM of approximately $1.0 billion.

GM is engaged in discussions with regulators outside the U.S. with respect to Takata inflators. There are differences in vehicle and inflator design between the relevant vehicles sold internationally and those sold in the U.S. We continue to gather and analyze evidence about these inflators and to share our findings with regulators. We were required to recall certain vehicles sold outside of the U.S. in the three months ended September 30, 2017 to replace Takata inflators in these vehicles. Additional recalls, if any, could be material to our results of operations and cash flows. We continue to monitor the international situation.

On June 26, 2017, Takata filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Japan. Over the past several months, a group of global automakers, including GM, have had discussions with Takata and Key Safety Systems, Inc. regarding a potential transaction involving the sale of Takata's business. GM has not experienced any supply interruptions arising from Takata initiating formal insolvency proceedings and anticipates that Takata will continue an uninterrupted supply of component parts to GM during the insolvency proceedings. GM continues to monitor Takata’s financial and operational performance and to develop alternative and contingent supplies to attempt to mitigate prospective threats to the supply of components.

The net consideration paid at closing for the European Business was $2.5 billion, consisting of (1) $2.2 billion in cash; and (2) $0.8 billion in warrants in PSA Group; partially offset by (3) the $0.5 billion de-risking premium payment made to PSA Group for assuming certain underfunded pension liabilities. In addition, we agreed to sell the shares of PSA Group received upon exercise of the warrants within 35 days after exercise. The purchase price is subject to certain working capital adjustments as provided in the Master Agreement (the Agreement).

The total charge from the sale of the European Business was $6.2 billion, net of tax, of which $3.9 billion is recorded in Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax, and $2.3 billion was treated as an adjustment to both EPS-diluted-adjusted and ETR-adjusted. The charge relates to: (1) $4.3 billion of deferred tax assets that will no longer be realizable or that transferred to PSA Group; (2) $1.5 billion related to previously deferred pension losses and payment of the de-risking premium to PSA Group for its assumption of certain underfunded pension liabilities; (3) a pre-tax disposal loss of $0.5 billion as a result of the sale of the Fincos, which includes the recognition of $0.2 billion of foreign currency translation losses; (4) a pre-tax charge of $0.4 billion for the cancellation of production programs resulting from the convergence of vehicle platforms between the European Business and PSA Group; and (5) other costs to support the separation of operations to be provided for a period of time following closing; partially offset by proceeds.

Our wholly owned subsidiary (the Seller) has agreed to indemnify PSA Group for certain losses resulting from any inaccuracy of the representations and warranties or breaches of our covenants included in the Agreement and for certain other liabilities, including emissions and product liabilities. The Company has entered into a guarantee for the benefit of PSA Group and pursuant

PSA Group has provided a number of working capital and other adjustments under the Agreement and other ancillary agreements, many of which are customary in these types of transactions. We currently believe that post-closing adjustments under the Agreement, if any, would not have a material impact on our results of operations.

We retained net underfunded pension liabilities of $6.8 billion owed primarily to current pensioners and former employees of the European Business with vested pension rights. PSA Group assumed, pursuant to the Agreement, approximately $3.1 billion of net underfunded pension liabilities primarily with respect to active employees of the Opel/Vauxhall Business, and during the three months ended September 30, 2017 the Seller made payments of $3.4 billion in respect of these assumed liabilities, which includes pension funding payments for active employees and the de-risking premium payment discussed above. At closing we drew upon our three-year unsecured revolving credit facility to fund these payments. We issued debt securities thereafter to repay the draw on our credit facility. As part of the retained pension liabilities described above, we retained the U.K. defined benefit pension plans in existence at signing related to the Opel/Vauxhall Business, including responsibility for service cost accruals through the closing date.

We have agreed to purchase from and supply to PSA Group certain vehicles for a period of time following closing and not to engage in certain competing businesses in Europe for a period of three years.

Refer to Note 3 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.