six of the 10 most improved assembly plants in North America. "We've made tremendous progress in productivity and we're working hard to build on that progress, allowing us to further improve our competitiveness in a pricing environment that continues to be aggressive and challenging," Wagoner said. GM EUROPE Fierce price competition, and unfavorable product mix and country mix were key factors in GM Europe's (GME) loss of $154 million in the second quarter of 2001. That compares with earnings of $166 million in the second quarter last year. "The restructuring initiatives announced last year represent only the first step in returning our European operations to solid profitability. GME and our Opel unit have announced that they are aggressively identifying additional actions required to restore profitability and revitalize the Opel/Vauxhall brands," Wagoner said. "We will announce these actions later this year." OTHER AUTOMOTIVE REGIONS GM Asia Pacific (GMAP) had net income of $12 million in the second quarter of 2001, excluding GM's portion of the severance payments and asset write-downs that were part of the previously announced restructuring of Isuzu. That compares with a loss of $123 million in the second quarter of 2000. The improvement resulted primarily from decreased operating losses at Isuzu and strong equity earnings from GM's alliance partners Fuji Heavy Industries and Suzuki. GM's Latin America/Africa/Mid-East (GMLAAM) region had net income of $31 million in the second quarter of 2001, compared with $10 million in the same period last year. The profit improvement was driven primarily by increased volume. The region had its highest market penetration for any quarter in the last 10 years as market share hit 17.8 percent in the second quarter of 2001 – an increase of nearly two percentage points from the same period a year ago. HUGHES Hughes' net loss of $156 million in the second quarter of 2001 was related primarily to t...
