(February 4, 2016) DETROIT — General Motors has posted a pretax operating profit of $10.8 billion for 2015 — including $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Booming sales of pricey SUVs and pickups in the U.S. and a resilient showing in China drove GM’s stout pretax operating profit for the full year, which jumped 67 percent vs. 2014, a year marred costly safety recalls.

The operating result excludes one-time items — the number GM says best reflects its underlying performance — and was the highest since before GM’s 2009 bankruptcy. (A spokesman couldn’t confirm whether that number eclipsed the record annual profit of pre-bankruptcy GM).

"It was a strong year on many fronts, capped with record sales and earnings, and a substantial return of capital to our shareholders," said Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. 

"We continue to strengthen our core business, which is laying the foundation for the company to lead in the transformation of personal mobility. We believe the opportunities this will create in connectivity, autonomous, car-sharing and electrification will set the stage for driving value for our owners for years to come."

Special items during the calendar year impacted full-year net income to common stockholders favorably, $1.5 billion, or $0.89 per share, compared to an unfavorable $(2.4) billion impact in 2014, or $(1.40) per share. Among these special items were a net gain from the reversal of certain valuation allowances on deferred tax assets, and charges for litigation matters related to the ignition switch recall and a Venezuelan bolivar currency devaluation.

Total net revenue for the year was $152.4 billion, compared to $155.9 billion in 2014. The change in net revenue is due primarily to a negative net foreign currency exchange impact of $9.3 billion. Holding exchange rates constant, net revenue in 2015 was $5.8 billion higher than 2014.