#120 - David Welch | Charging Ahead – Electrification, Automation & Positioning GM for the Future

David Welch is the Detroit bureau chief for Bloomberg News and also covers the auto industry for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. He is the author of Charging Ahead: General Motors, Mary Barra, and the Reinvention of an American Icon. Key topics in this conversation include: GM’s rise, fall, and re-birth How traditional automakers are likely to fare against new entrants in the coming years GM’s bet on electrification and their path to executing on that strategy Mary Barra’s rise through the manufacturing ranks The importance of manufacturing know-how for companies targeting large-scale automotive production Links: Show notes: http://brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/davidwelch https://www.harpercollinsleadership.com/charging-ahead/ https://mobile.twitter.com/davidwelch47 https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/APyzrY4qwdE/david-welch David’s Bio David Welch is the Detroit bureau chief for Bloomberg News and also covers the auto industry for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. He has been with Bloomberg for 12 years and was the Detroit bureau chief for BusinessWeek before that. He has written six cover stories about GM for Businessweek, as well as major articles and news-breaking coverage about all the major auto companies and related topics. Welch’s work has won awards from organizations such as the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Clarion Awards, the New York Press Club, the Deadline Club, and the Society of Professional Journalists. He was a finalist for Global Business Journalist of the Year for his 2005 BusinessWeek cover story about GM’s decline, which predicted the company’s descent into bankruptcy four years later. He is currently president of the Automotive Press Association, the hub of national and international media people in Detroit and in the automotive community across the United States. About Charging Ahead A decade ago, no one would have guessed that GM would be one of the companies poised to lead America into the future. In Charging Ahead: General Motors, Mary Barra, and the Reinvention of an American Icon (HarperCollins Leadership – September 20, 2022), Detroit bureau chief for Bloomberg News, David Welch, captures the compelling story of GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, who against all odds took the reins at GM in 2014. Since that time, she has attempted to reinvent a century-old company and equip it for the biggest change in transportation since the internal combustion engine replaced the horse. In the process, she has been ripping out GM traditions by the roots—and taking flak from all sides. Her plan is to make GM—the company famed for the gas-burning Corvette, hulking Cadillac Escalade, and carbon-spewing Silverado pickup—purely electric and clean by 2035. Future of Mobility: The Future of Mobility podcast is focused on the development and implementation of safe, sustainable, effective, and accessible mobility solutions, with a spotlight on the people and technology advancing these fields. linkedin.com/in/brandonbartneck/ Edison Manufacturing: At Edison Manufacturing, our specialty is building and assembling highly complex mobility products in annual quantities of ten to tens of thousands utilizing an agile, robust, and capital-light approach.