GM is Hiring! But not on this Continent

GM is planning on hiring more workers to boost output, but those jobs won't be created in the Rust Belt. Instead, GM will be hiring an additional 600 workers in Brazil to help boost output in a country that's seen tremendous auto market growth in recent years.

GM's woes in the US, while well-publicized, tend to overshadow its success abroad. GM (and Ford) models have been popular in Europe, while China has been one of the most profitable markets for GM. And the vehicle brand that has become a status symbol in China isn't Mercedes or Lexus, but rather Buick.

I have wondered in the past if executives at GM ever entertained the idea of leaving the US market altogether - or at least temporarily - for warmer climes. Despite high profitability abroad, GM's North American operations have done so poorly so as to pull the company far enough into the red that it was forced to file for bankruptcy. The logical solution may have been for GM to divest itself as much as possible from North America by closing and selling off plants, while maintaining an administrative presence in Detroit. Then again, it's hard to imagine finding many willing buyers for all that equipment, and it's possible that popular backlash could have doomed such a plan from the get-go.