MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

General Motors South America is born to cater rising demand in the region

Jaime Ardila, currently president and general manager GM Mercosur, will serve as president of GM South America

General Motors is setting up a new regional organization in response to rising demand in South America. The new unit, GM South America, will be headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Jaime Ardila, currently president and general manager GM Mercosur, will serve as president of GM South America, reporting to GM chairman and chief executive Ed Whitacre. Before this, the OEM was organized into North American, European and international units.

GM South America includes GM’s existing sales and manufacturing operations in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela as well as sales activities in those countries and Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. It currently has 29,000 employees. In the first five months of the year, GM sold 394,000 vehicles in South America for a market share of 20.2%.

Meanwhile, the GM International Operations will turn its focus to Asia, the Middle East and Russia. “The GM International Operations team is doing a great job expanding our global presence,” said Whitacre. “However, with the rapidly growing markets in Asia, the Middle East and Russia, we need the GMIO team focused exclusively on those countries that are critical to our growth.”

There have been some executive changes in response to the restructuring. Denise C Johnson, vice president, Labor Relations, will become president and managing director of GM do Brazil, effective 1 July 2010. She will report to Ardila.

Catherine L Clegg, GM North America manufacturing manager, takes over Johnson’s role as vice president, Labor Relations, effective 1 July 2010. She will report to Diana Tremblay, GM vice president, Manufacturing and Labor Relations. A successor for Clegg will be announced in the near future.