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January 22, 2003
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This Week:

• News for the C-Class: sports packages for even more dynamic driving pleasure

• Sienna Minivan Rolls Off Toyota's New Indiana Production Line

• PSA Peugeot Citroën To build a Plant in Trnava, Slovakia

• For 2002, GM Earned $1.7 Billion, Or $3.35 Per Share

• Kia Hires New Director of Marketing Communications

• Automobile Magazine Honors BMW with Four All-Stars Awards In Annual Survey

• Volkswagen Marine at boot 2003

• Inglis, Cosgrove Retire From Ford

• North American International Auto Show Attracts More than 810,000 Visitors

• Buick Signs Gogel And Berganio For 2003

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For 2002, GM Earned $1.7 Billion, Or $3.35 Per Share

For 2002, GM earned $1.7 billion, or $3.35 per share Excluding Hughes and special items, $3.9 billion, or $6.98 per share In the fourth quarter, GM earned $1.0 billion, or $1.71 per share Excluding Hughes, $934 million, or $1.67 per share Record revenue, market share gains in three automotive regions, strong cash generation, and improved cost performance were key highlights in 2002 GMAC posts eighth straight year of earnings growth Detroit - General Motors Corp. reported record revenues and significantly improved earnings in both the calendar year and fourth quarter of 2002.

CALENDAR YEAR 2002

GM earned $1.7 billion on record revenue of $186.8 billion, or $3.35 diluted earnings per share of GM $1-2/3 par value common stock, compared with $601 million, or $1.77 per share, in 2001.

Excluding special items (see "Highlights") and Hughes, 2002 earnings totaled $3.9 billion, or $6.98 per share, nearly double the results in 2001 when GM earned $2.0 billion, or $3.60 per share.

FOURTH QUARTER 2002

Earnings totaled $1.0 billion on record quarterly revenue of $48.7 billion, or $1.71 per share. That compares with $255 million, or $0.60 per share, in the prior-year period. There were no special items other than those at Hughes in the fourth quarter of 2002.

Excluding Hughes and its special items, earnings in the fourth quarter of 2002 totaled $934 million, or $1.67 per share, more than double the $386 million, or $0.69 per share, earned in the prior-year period.

YEAR IN REVIEW

"Our strategy to leverage GM's size, and fundamentally improve its operating efficiency continues to pay off," said GM Chairman Jack Smith. "We're a far leaner, more flexible company, offering cars and trucks that are winners in the marketplace, which continues to drive our improved earnings."

GM's automotive operations generated approximately $8 billion in cash flow, as total cash generation was about $12 billion in 2002, exceeding the target of $10 billion. "We generated significantly more cash than expected," Wagoner said. "This was achieved despite the fact that the Hughes transaction, which had been a major element of our cash-generation plan, could not be completed. And, we still have a significant store of value in Hughes that we can capitalize on going forward."

The strong cash performance allowed GM to contribute a total of $4.8 billion to its U.S. pension plans during the year, including a $2.6 billion cash contribution in the fourth quarter. In addition, GM made a $1 billion cash contribution to the long-term Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Trust in June of 2002. Even with these contributions, net liquidity of $2.3 billion at year-end 2002 was up $1.3 billion from year-end 2001.

Cash, marketable securities, and assets of the VEBA trust invested in short-term fixed-income securities totaled $17.3 billion at Dec. 31, 2002, excluding GMAC and Hughes, up almost $6 billion from the end of 2001.

GM financial results described throughout the remainder of this release exclude special items unless otherwise noted (see "Highlights").

GM AUTOMOTIVE OPERATIONS

GM's global automotive operations earned $563 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, compared with $66 million in the prior-year period. The increase was fueled by income growth at GM North America (GMNA) and Asia Pacific, and moderating losses in Europe and Latin America. For 2002, GMNA earned $3.0 billion, double its 2001 performance.

"For the second year in a row, we increased our market share in three of the four automotive regions, and we improved the quality of our share with stronger sales of higher-profit models," Wagoner said.

GM's U.S. market share increased to 28.3 percent for the year, up 0.2 percentage points from 2001. "We've grown market share in the United States for the second consecutive year, thanks to strong core products like our full-size pickups, and mid-size and large SUVs," Wagoner said. "GM set all-time industry records for truck and SUV sales in 2002, becoming the first manufacturer ever to top 1.2 million SUV sales in a calendar year. We're making these gains because we're offering cars and trucks that customers really want to buy, and we're targeting market share gains again in 2003 as we introduce 12 new vehicles in the United States alone this year."

The pricing environment continued to be challenging, with vehicle prices continuing to decline in North America. Net price retention was negative 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002, and negative 2.1 percent for the year. Higher production volume and significant improvements in structural and material costs more than offset the continued pricing pressures, leading to more than a 50 percent improvement in GMNA's fourth-quarter net income compared with the same period in 2001. Year-end dealer inventories were well positioned at slightly more than a million units.

GM Europe (GME) reported a loss of $129 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, an improvement from the $240 million loss in the year-ago period. Significant progress in reducing material and structural costs and increased volume were partially offset by higher losses at Saab. For 2002, GME had a loss of $549 million, compared with a loss of $767 million in 2001.

GM Asia-Pacific (GMAP) reported a profit of $66 million in the fourth quarter of 2002 compared with earnings of $25 million a year ago, led by continued strong performance at GM's Australia-based Holden and Shanghai GM in China. The earnings also reflect better-than-expected results from GM's equity alliances. The fourth-quarter-2002 results included GM's share of start-up related losses at GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., which totaled approximately $50 million. For 2002, GMAP earned $188 million, compared with $77 million in 2001.

GM Latin America/Africa/Mid-East (GMLAAM) reported a loss of $7 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, a significant improvement versus its loss of $111 million in the year-ago quarter. Results there were negatively affected by the general economic downturn in the region and turmoil in Venezuela and Argentina. For 2002, GMLAAM had a loss of $181 million, compared with a loss of $80 million in 2001.

GMAC

GMAC earned $524 million in the fourth quarter of 2002 - an all-time fourth-quarter record. These results represent an increase of more than 20 percent from fourth-quarter earnings of $435 million a year ago, with the improvement driven by strong results from automotive finance and mortgage operations. For 2002, GMAC earned an all-time record $1.9 billion, compared with $1.8 billion in 2001.

HUGHES

Hughes had a loss of $84 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, compared with a loss of $131 million in the prior-year period. The results primarily reflect continued improvement in the operating performance of DIRECTV U.S. Revenue, led by the growing subscriber base of DIRECTV, totaled $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002, up from $2.3 billion in the same quarter last year. Total DIRECTV subscriptions in the United States increased approximately 256,000 from the third quarter of 2002 to 11.2 million. For 2002, Hughes had a loss of $467 million, compared with a loss of $525 million in 2001.

Including special items disclosed by Hughes yesterday, earnings totaled $86 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. The net effect of the fourth-quarter special items totaled a favorable $170 million after taxes (see "Highlights").

PROFIT SHARING

General Motors also announced that approximately 130,000 hourly employees in the United States will qualify for profit-sharing payments in 2003. A typical U.S. hourly employee, eligible under the profit-sharing program, will qualify for a payment of approximately $940.

LOOKING AHEAD

GM expects moderate economic growth in 2003 in the United States, resulting in total U.S. industry vehicle sales of approximately 16.5 million units. In Europe, total industry vehiclesales are expected to be about 19 million units. GM's 2003 first-quarter production forecast for North America is now estimated at 1.43 million units, up nearly 6 percent from the first quarter of 2002. GM estimates that earnings in the first quarter of 2003 will be approximately $1.50 per share, and the calendar-year earnings target is approximately $5.00 per share, excluding Hughes and any special items. In the fourth quarter of 2002, GM's effective income-tax rate, excluding financing and insurance operations, was 26 percent, the level expected for GM in each of the next several years.

(January 16, 2003)