a little bit disappointed with the volt? is this natural for something that is new and new technology in the marketplace? >> well, i hope the audience understand what's i'm about to say. you never have perfect knowledge of what the market is going to do and how well it will receive your product. so this cruz i mentioned, the best-selling compact car in america, we closed the plant for two weeks last november. you didn't even know that. there is so much intensity around the volt because although it was designed probably whether president obama was in the senate, it's now his car. he said he's going to buy one. you know, i'm happy to hear that. i wish he would buy one this year. but he's not. and not this year, i don't think. but it's become somewhat politicized. in fact, the volt is always in the background. so we are going to match

production to inventory. and that's what -- if you are owners of this business, if it was your company, that's exactly what you would do whether it's the cruz, whether it's a truck. i mean we over inventory truck this year because we're going to shut the lines down for 26 weeks this year because we're doing a whole new remake of the truck line. the average guy on wall street says they're building inventory. well, we're going to shut the plants down for 26 weeks this year. you have to accept there is some intelligence behind our decisions. and the volt we shut down because we saw inventory building and we want to get it in line with production and demand in the marketplace. >> we want to show a brief clip, about 15-second ad that is running about the chevy volt. i want to ask you about it. if we could cue that up, this is an ad that chevy volt had that's been running. you can certainly hear it.

♪ for our town -- for o country -- for our future -- this isn't just a car we wanted to build. it's the car america had to build. the extended range electric chevy volt from the heart of detroit to the health of the country. chevy runs deep. >> from the heart of detroit to the health of the country, why is this good for america? what are you trying to saying? >> well, the great thing about the volt is it represents american innovation, american ingenuity, clean technology, and i think it's a statement about what this company represents, the very best that america can produce. it's clean and it reduces our

dependence on oil, especially foreign oil. >> okay. dan ackerson is chairman and ceo of general motors, our guest here at climate one. excuse me. last year toyota down scaled, reduced downward the profit expectations for the year because of supply chain disruptions in thailand. intel did the same thing. >> we did it, too. >> you had something related to japan. >> we had it in thailand. >> in thailand. so the floods that struck thailand are precisely the kind of extreme weather events, droughts, floods, fires that climate scientists who if i heard you earlier you said you accept their science, say well what happened with increased intensity and frequency. so my question is, do you ever run awe global business, how do you plan for the unexpected supply chain disruption that's then, you know, hit you from the other side of the world? >> you know, we have operational risk management function within

the company. and so when i came in i said give me the 25 biggest things that could happen to you. and you want to lay awake at night worrying about all of them, i did that for a while. then i figured what the hell. if someone told me -- it's so tragic what happened in japan, an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster. what it tells you is you have to diversify your supply chain. and we are actively doing that. you know, to be honest with you, depending on how far your supply chain went around the globe, some manufacturers were impacted much more so with what happened in thailand than what happened in japan. so we have taken a hard look at that as i'm sure all of our competitors have. it's been a lesson learned. and i will tell you, we were very concerned in both

instances. but we marshalled our resources as best we could. we shut our shreveport plant down for i think four or five days to insure we had supply to a different set of issues we had. and we were lucky that's all the impact we had for the two natural disasters. >> so climate risk, climate driven weather can be a business risk? >> oh, yeah. the climate wasn't the issue in japan. >> more thailand. >> thailand was probably more likely. i'd like to think it was more likely than what happened in japan. >> you mentioned gm ventures. gm ventures invested in car sharing, i believe with, relay ride. i like to talk about the future of car sharing and automobiles as a service mobility as a service, not something that people buy and own. >> we're in the mobility business at the end of the day. you step back at it and you don't know what shape or form

that mobility will take place. we're looking at atutonomous cars. we're trying to look at everything. we can't afford to run around with blinders saying we're going to build just trucks. we're going to build every segment of the market and we're going to try to be the best and most efficient question in every segment of the market. well, if it evolves to a zip car type or a pier to pier type application that relay cars represents, we want to be part of it. we have a unique technology and onstar where we can enable that. if you own a car and want to make it available to me and rent it to me at 250 a day, they want to take this to all 50 states. we want to be an enabler. nothing do you in this world satisfies everybody. i was criticized for being stupid on that one. and it was, well, what if this takes off? what if urban mobility takes that vent? well, we don't want to be late to the game. so we decided to be pro active

rather than reactive and i think, you know, if it works out, we're going to be -- it's always if you're right you're a ye genius, if you were wrong, of course we knew you were stupid. >> there must be some people that say wait a minute, that means we'll sell fewer cars. we're in the business of selling cars. if people rent a car,en that is bad for our production, et cetera. >> yeah. there are people like that. i'm sure there are people like dan that got noose this thing zbchlt bill ford said it is going to happen whether we like it or notment . young consumers may pick the iphone over their cars. so you have to think about that. so bringing the cloud into the car -- >> very interested in that. >> i see advertisement that's are more about the entertainment and the console than the car

itself. it's more about the entertainment experience in the car than the car itself. it seems like a real interesting approach for a car company to sell the entertainment value of the car. >> i don't know what you are getting at, but we put it in a brand band of entertainment. we don't want to jeopardize the safety on the road. i will tell you, i have been going down the road and i see people come over. they say it is distracting and provides as much distraction as a drunk driver would. i am much more alert to oncoming traffic than i would have been a couple of years ago. when i was ceo of nextel, we talked about short message service. not like the keys you have on the iphones. that being said, we want to have a hands-free, eyes-free

application in our cars. that is the thrust we are trying to make. if someone texts you, there will be applications. yes, no, i can't talk right now. i'll call you back. your husband or wife calls. you can pick up the dry cleaning. yes, no, or i'll call you back. eventually, we are interested in the work that apple is doing with siri because you get voice recognition technology which will continually improve. let's get in on the ground floor. we have hired more people from that space than would probably surprise you. it will surprise you so we can be up on that. the new system cadillac is using has millions of lines of code written into the info-tainment system. the guiding line is hands-free, eyes-free. my wife talks to me when i'm driving and we're still here.

>> we will put our audience microphone out here and invite your participation. i invite you to come with one brief question for mr. akerson. the line will form back there with our producer jane. if you are on this side of the room, we ask that you go through that door over there rather than crossing the cameras. please go through that room and the line will form over there. while we get that going, our guest today is dan akerson, chairman and ceo of general motors. we have not talked about china yet. china is a big part of the industry.

shanghai company owns 1% of general motors. let's talk about shanghai. will that 1% share could be increased so there is more cross ownership with china? >> well, they bought -- to be clear, they bought $500 million. i'm in the sure that is 1%. we own -- we are in a joint venture with shanghai auto. we are proud of that. we have been gaining market share. >> and record sales in china. >> yup. just like here. everything's not great at general motors. we have our issues. europe is a problem for us. south america. we're doubling down in terms of our capital expenditures. it is a complicated business. in asia and china and specifically, we are doing well. we are the largest marketshare.

their government is hand in glove with their manufacturers just like here to try to get us to be cleaner and more efficient and we're workg >> let's have the first audience question. >> hi. great conversation. as founder of a gas roots organization called don't be fueled, i get a lot of questions about earlier the hybrid car and now the electric car from a lot of intelligent people. what i'm getting more questions about and i'm not sure how to answer. what about the safety and environmental hazards of the batteries? ems and disposal of the batteries. that is my first question. >> we have a big line. just one question. the safety of the batteries and recycling.

>> one of the reasons we chose the path we went down with batteries is we give an eight-year guarantee. because we cool it with liquid. it is called dexacool. it is not dissimilar to what you would see in an ordinary car. combustion engine car. we never allow the charging go above 85% or below 15%. we can guarantee this battery for eight years. an air-cooled battery based on our testing to date, will last two or three years. a, we think it will go longer. that is what we are guaranteeing it for. we have an open dialogue with utilities in terms of storing for various applications. coming from the cell phone industry, i can tell you, you need to have batteries on the cell phone towers. you will lose commercial power at times. this is a work in progress. i don't have a clear cut no questions asked. we are in dialogue with a number of people in how we use these things. >> the other part of the question. is e.m.s.

the electric magnetic. recycling of the batteries after the useful life? >> like i say, we will try to use them in some sort of application for the storage of electrical energy. we have not sorted that out yet. >> let's have the next audience question. >> mr. akerson, many consumers would like to be able to buy e-100 flex fuel vehicles, not e-85, but mileage that is optimized for ethanol, not gasoline. what do we have to do to get gm to offer these vehicles not in the united states? >> we will build cars or trucks -- people say why are you

building these big cars? because that's what the market wants. we will meet the market. that is what you would expect to do with a profit-oriented organization. ethanol is not in high demand now. if there was a demand for not 10,000 or 20,000, but 100,000, all of a sudden, we would get more interested in it. we don't see that demand in the marketplace today. so, if the market is there, we will be there. if the market is not there, we will not be there. >> let's have the next audience question for dan akerson. >> hi. i was interested in the statement that fuel cell cars are where you want to be. i'm curious why that is the final goal for technology development. you know, the future of car sharing and automobiles as a service, mobility as a service, not something as people buy and own. >> yeah, we're in the mobility business at the end of the day. when you step back at it.

and you don't know what shape or form that mobility will take place. we're looking at autonomous cars. you know what i mean by autonomous cars? we're looking at everything now. we can't afford with run around with blinders on and just say we're only going to build trucks. well, if it evolves to a zip car type or a peer to peer type application that relay cars represent, we wants to be part of it. we have a unique technology in produced today? refineries. >> and i'm sure the oil companies would be very happy to get some revenue for that, but there's transportation and infrastructure issues around it. >> they don't -- they largely don't use it today. why don't they just -- >> sell it to you? >> you know, they can -- that's their business. we're not going to get into that

business. we're not that smart. that's a tough business. >> but governor schwarzenegger has tried a lot of -- pushed hard on hydrogen. hasn't taken off in california. >> you know, leadership is a tough thing. you have to make tough decisions and sometimes you'll be wrong. of course, everybody will remember when you're wrong and not when you're right. but at some point in time, this is i think the future. and it may not materialize, the market may not be there. if it's not, that's why volt and, you know, the first -- this is the first chapter written on the book called alternative forms of propulsion. and it will evolve over time. the chapters are yet to be written. maybe i'm wrong. i have to allow for that possibility as my wife tells me

i have been wrong and if it isn't hydrogen, well, then we better figure out a way to produce a lot of electricity. let's face it, it doesn't have pure emissions either and there are strong points of view around that. whether it's nuclear, gas or coal. modern societies, competitive societies, have to figure out how to get the cleanest, most efficient form of energy to the marketplace and i think as the world evolves and energy evolves, you may see this evolve into hydrogen fuel cells. >> let's have the next question. >> dan, my name is john thomas. i'm from the mad hedge fund trader. i have a personal question for you. when you were offered the post of running gm, what initially came to your mind? are you crazy, are you out of your mind? what was it in this job that

lured you to accept that offer and who specifically made that offer? >> well, i think gm is the most -- one of the most complex, most interesting and most challenging business opportunities of my generation of management. and where i was in private equity and thought i would just finish my career there, it was genuinely intriguing. i thought i could make a difference. i had been overseas for two weeks, came to the board meeting -- >> we share clarify you were on the gm board first. >> yeah, i was part of the new board that was brought on post bankruptcy, and then ceo said, well, he was leaving. he was 68, going to be 69. and he had -- he was an interim because we had lost our ceo from

the old gm, the prior management. and candidly i had this i had this vacation and my daughter was pregnant. she couldn't go anywhere. we took her and my other granddaughter. i almost turned the job down. my wife and i wanted a couple of days to think about it. i told my granddaughter i wasn't going to be around so much and she started crying. i'm a man as good as his word. i'm glad i did it. there personal aspects that are not all that attractive, but, you know, i will be back with my granddaughter in some period in the future. that will settle that concern. >> good. >> again, you touched briefly on business conditions that you are seeing right now. >> yes.

>> way too much capacity over here. >> yes. >> i wonder what we are doing to address that. are you closing plants there and why are -- could you quantify how much money we are losing in europe at the moment? >> well, what's going on in europe is not similar to what happened in the united states prior to the great recession. to give you an idea, we shut 14 plants in the country. the average plant utilization in the united states prior to the recession was at about 70%. we overproduced to cover our fixed cost. then this is the unnatural act being perpetrated. we tried to bend the supply and demand and overproduced to cover these fixed costs. we were not efficient and there by we supplied too much versus demand and we would dump them

into rental fleets. what did that do? diminished the resale because we had to sell the cars at a lower price. the cost of ownership over to five years and enjoyed the description called leasing. people were overproducing to hold share and prices were coming down and it was a whirlpool. we shut down 14 plants. 14 plants. the disruption and dislocation was significant. in europe we shut a plant down when we restructured post parent bankruptcy and we were profitable when we were on a road trip and losing about a billion. i made a statement that we would get back to profitability. we were profitable by about 300 odd million in the first half of

11 and lost about that much in the third quarter. when we were going through our crisis when we got downgraded as our national debt rating was downgrade and there was a lot of controversy in washington where we were going to lift the debt ceiling and the country going to default, think about we finally got that sorted out, but in europe, they are hearing about potential sovereign debt defaults twice a day. every morning when they get up and before they go to bed. it hurt their confidence and people stopped buying. i see it every day in the sales reports. same thing is happening. everybody is doing what they call short weeks where we send them home and there packages. we still have the plants open. it is estimated there may be as many as 7 to 10 plants, excess across the industry. you take it from volkswagen or

mercedes or bmw or fiat or all of them. we have to kind of right size our operations in order to gain or achieve profitability again. last year including a write down of good will which is restructuring for another 200 million. a little over $700 million in europe. it is a very troubling situation. we have already taken action to address that. i think it will be a good year or two before we can achieve profitability in europe again. we are not giving up and we are in discussions with our various constituencies and dealers and unions and management. to affect a satisfactory out

come. >> we are discussing the chairman and ceo of general motors. we have a few minutes left for questions. yes, sir? >> solar city and we are the nation's largest solar installer. we launched our electric vehicle changing division and it's growing quickly. we see a lot of customers think about the energy powering their home tied to the energy that powers their vehicle in a way that it didn't exist before. the volt ties you to your customer's homes in a way that you weren't before. >> we actually invested in a company that they build a little

orlean to it. it has solar panels and you are home free. could that happen? in a carport. it's a good technical term. i like it. we do a lot of inductive. we invested in the company like that. you will see that in our models coming out and you take the cell phone and you don't have to worry about the jack and all this other stuff. you see that in the cars in upcoming years. someone said why don't we get one the size of your garage and you drive that. then you think of fido walking across there. you have to worry about all this stuff. you are thinking about everything. if natural gas is the solution and i have natural gas in my home, why not fuel your car at

home? that wouldn't go down well with the boys. they have another form of distribution. we are thinking like that because what's one company's solution is another bad news. there may be alternate plans for distribution in the coming decades. i don't know. you have to get the pressurized natural gas for residential into a car and pick the pressure up to get it in there. there a lot of practical problems that need to be solved or addressed. we are looking at everything and everything is on the table. whether it's relay cars or why would jam do that? i think they are right. it's going to happen and we can't control the universe. we have to react to reality and we want to predict the future so we can be proactive.

i don't know if it will be electric and infused into the architecture of the home and it's going to be natural gas. i don't think they will put nuclear reactors on cars, but if they did, we would think about it. >> do you have a charging station in your garage? >> yes and i love it. i have had one of the first volts of the captured test fleet. i put 8/10 of a gallon of gas into it. we talked to 40 plus owners today and there was one fellow who had driven it 12 months ago in the 13,000 miles and still has the initial gas that he got when he bought the car. on your volt it tells you how much you have got. with the volt i bought about a month ago, i use 1/10 of a gallon of gas. you are averaging 100 miles

equivalent on these cars. that's good news and if you can get the density up instead of going 40 miles, you will go 240 miles. what's great about the electric range vehicle is this huge step forward. you can drive that car from here to florida and back. it is not an urban car. it's a car with all the wonderful adjectives and a high degree of utility. you don't have to restrict your thinking and have range anxiety. drop a purple pill in that thing and it works really well. >> i am a vet nam vietnam veter understand you served off the coast. i was wondering if can you say a few words for the sailors serving and what would