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General Motors which recalled 3.1 million cars in the U.S. since February to fix faulty ignition switches, said today it will recall an additional 3.2 million vehicles with similar defects. The company also announced five other new recalls involving 165,800 cars and trucks. The campaigns are to fix problems ranging from poorly designed air bag placement to faulty transmission cables and unattached floor mats. The latest recalls bring GM’s total this year to more than 20 million vehicles. To that into perspective, consider that sales of cars and light trucks in the U.S. last year totaled 15.4 million units. The company’s previous recall high was 10.7 million vehicles in 2004.



General Motors GM has provided more fodder for Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra’s return engagement with Congress. The Detroit-based automaker recalled another 3.16 million 2000 to 2014 model year vehicles, according to a U.S. regulatory filing Monday. It was the second recall over consecutive business days, coming on top of a recall Friday of more than 500,000 Camaro sports cars plus other models. Barra this week is going to Washington to discuss the company’s internal investigation of how it let the ignition switch problem fester for years.



Germany’s carmakers racked up record sales in May, buoyed by a strengthening recovery in Europe and sustained demand for premium cars in the US and China. BMW and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz reported steeper gains than Volkswagen AG, Germany’s and Europe’s biggest carmaker, which delivered a record 4.11 million vehicles for the first five months of the year despite weaker demand in emerging markets. VW’s sales were up 6.3% for the months of January through May.