Surprisingly strong second-quarter sales and operating profits provided hope Wednesday that the long-awaited turnaround of General Motors Corp. is picking up steam.
GM, the world's largest automaker, reported a loss of $3.2 billion in the April-to-June period primarily because of massive one-time costs incurred for the buyouts and early retirements of more than 34,000 hourly workers.
But the bottom-line loss couldn't obscure the steady progress that GM has made in cutting costs, growing internationally and stabilizing its troubled North American auto operations.
GM said Wednesday that, excluding restructuring and other charges, it earned $1.2 billion in operating profit in the quarter and increased its global revenues 12 percent to $54.4 billion.
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