General Motors Co. s defense business has named the Detroit automaker s executive director of global product development quality as its executive chief engineer.
Rick Kewley, a U.S. Military Academy graduate and former U.S. Army officer, brings with him 27 years of engineering and product development experience at GM. His leadership comes as the automaker is reviving its GM Defense LLC business, including with a $214.3 million contract for U.S. Army infantry squad vehicles. Doing so, experts have said, is helping GM to recruit new customers, grow revenue to invest in new technology and bolster its technical credibility.
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General Motors is planning to significantly grow its military defense unit and is eyeing off a $25 billion market for creating new military products based on existing vehicles.
“That’s an addressable market that where we feel we have a right to win and pursue. And that’s what we’re doing,” GM Defense vice president of growth and strategy Jeff Ryder told CNBC. “As we mature, as we grow, as we build out our operating model, as we have more wins, we will have the opportunity, I think, to continue to vector into other directions or adjacent markets. So that number is not going to get smaller.”
That s an addressable market that we feel we have a right to win and pursue. And that s what we re doing, he told CNBC. As we mature, as we grow, as we build out our operating model, as we have more wins, we will have the opportunity, I think, to continue to vector into other directions or adjacent markets. So that number is not going to get smaller.
The company once built tanks for the military during WWII, but it has no plans to stretch that far from its core manufacturing, he said.
Ryder, an aerospace and defense industry veteran, said the military needs electric powertrains and vehicles as well as autonomous systems focuses of its parent company. GM is investing $27 billion in such technologies through 2025.
That s an addressable market that we feel we have a right to win and pursue. And that s what we re doing, he told CNBC. As we mature, as we grow, as we build out our operating model, as we have more wins, we will have the opportunity, I think, to continue to vector into other directions or adjacent markets. So that number is not going to get smaller.
The company once built tanks for the military during WWII, but it has no plans to stretch that far from its core manufacturing, he said.
Ryder, an aerospace and defense industry veteran, said the military needs electric powertrains and vehicles as well as autonomous systems focuses of its parent company. GM is investing $27 billion in such technologies through 2025.