General Motors Nearly Doubled Q3 Profit On Truck And SUV Sales

General Motors nearly doubled its third-quarter profit from a year ago with rising SUV and truck sales in North America, more than offsetting its struggling sales in Europe and South America and recalls of more than 30 million vehicles worldwide.

On Thursday the automaker reported third-quarter net income of $1.38 billion, 81 cents a share, from July to September, compared with $698 million a year ago, or 45 cents a share. If not for $331 million costs in one-time items, the company would have made 97 cents a share, above analysts’ expectations of 95 cents a share. Revenue grew 2 percent, to $39.25 billion, beating expectations of $38.79 billion.

GM has issued 75 recalls in 2014, costing the company more than $2.8 billion. Most of the vehicles recalled for flawed components were sedans and suburbans, not the pickup trucks or SUVs that are boosting income.

In North America, refurbished pickup trucks and SUVs helped to lift GM’s pretax profit 12.1 percent, to over $2.4 billion.

“Strong performance in North America, where we achieved a 9.5 percent margin, anchored our overall results,” Chuck Stevens, GM executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a statement.