GM CEO brings in $16.2M in year of record recalls

Leading Detroit-based automaker General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), even in a year of record recalls, can be a lucrative affair. Just ask CEO Mary Barra.

Barra earned $16.2 million in 2014, a year where the auto industry recalled almost 64 million vehicles for safety problems, which is a record, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. General Motors accounted for 27 million of that tally, a company record and more than all vehicles combined in 2013.

It was the first year the top executive’s pay at GM wasn’t restricted following the $49 billion government bailout prompted by the Great Recession. Barra earned less last year that other top industry executives such as Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, who earned over $35 million, and Ford Motor’s chief executive, Mark Fields, who had a total compensation of $18.6 million, according to the New York Times.

Read more from the New York Times.