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General Motors looks like a basket case these days as it burns through billions of dollars in North America and only manages to keep the lights on through bailout loans from the U.S. and Canadian governments.

But it's a different story outside of North America because the majority of GM's global sales aren't here. GM LAAM — General Motors Latin America, Africa and Middle East — is doing fine, selling more than a million vehicles annually while being GM's most profitable division for the past several years.

Maureen Kempston Darkes, GM LAAM's president, says that's likely to continue.

You may remember her from her days as a very successful and popular president of GM Canada. She's a University of Toronto arts grad who carried on to law school and then went to work in the GM Canada legal department in 1975. Brains and effort do matter and, in 1994, she became president and general Manager of GM Canada.

Even as president, Kempston Darkes was never one for the trappings of high office; my colleague Jeremy Cato remembers finding her totally alone late one night in the Windsor, Ont., airport juggling several large suitcases.

During her seven-year term as president, GM was the top-selling manufacturer in Canada and the Oshawa, Ont., factories became two of the highest-quality plants in the entire GM system.

Now she's merely doing what very few executives of American car companies are able to do — turn a profit.

Vaughan: When you were running GM Canada, I had an idea of your responsibilities. Now you're all over the globe and it's hard to imagine how you keep all those balls in the air.

Kempston Darkes: As GM group vice-president and president of GM Latin America, Africa and Middle East, I am responsible for the GM business and manufacturing operations over the three continents, which includes 84 countries with unique political systems, currencies, languages and cultures.

Plus, we have very diverse economies with annual GDP per capita ranging from just $800 (U.S.) per year in Kenya to more than $43,000 in the United Arab Emirates (2007 figures).

We currently manufacture products in nine countries and have over 1,600 sales, service and parts facilities.

Yikes, I think you just proved my point. So in all those 84 countries, what markets are good?

Over all, our region is made up of emerging markets and growth in emerging markets is a key strategy for GM.

Growth in Brazil, Argentina and the Andean countries has been rapid over the past several years, as has growth in the Middle East.

Approximately 60 per cent of GM's global sales come from outside the United States, so we recognize the importance of succeeding in the key emerging markets like the Latin America markets.

We have seen some economic slowing in our markets in the fourth quarter and we expect some slowing in 2009 due to the overall global financial crisis, but long-term, we remain very optimistic about future growth.

These markets are very important to us.

I have no doubt those markets are important, but what product lines work there?

Emerging markets lean towards smaller, more affordable, energy-efficient vehicles.

In the LAAM region, we have a very diverse lineup and customers in our markets demand fuel-efficient vehicles combined with high style.

In Brazil, where there's plenty of sugar-cane-based ethanol, our Flex Fuel vehicles represent approximately 97 per cent of GM sales.

Over all, Chevrolet is 90 per cent of LAAM's sales.

We are able to leverage the GM global product portfolio and tailor products to meet our markets' needs. The Chevrolet Corsa, Aveo and Celta are the top sellers in our region, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of our sales.

GM was also the first to address the interest in hybrids in the Middle East, where we just completed a very successful test fleet program with the Roads and Transit Authority in Dubai with Chevrolet Tahoe and Malibu hybrids.

We also have some key product projects in our markets going into 2009 — one is the development of a new vehicle for the Mercosur region (Argentina, Brazil and Chile).

And second, our team in Brazil is taking the lead on the development of a mid-size truck for markets all over the world.

Like our engineering centres in the United States, Germany, South Korea and Australia, we are now developing global products from Brazil.

After your relatively sheltered existence in Oshawa, what has really surprised you in LAAM?

The diversity and volatility of the markets.

But we have a long history in most of these markets and we have a strong dealer network that stays focused on growth targets.

So it's not all bad news for GM; your part is actually profitable.

The GM LAAM region has been profitable since 2003.

Since 2003, our revenue has increased 250 per cent and EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) has increased 308 per cent.

Currently, in 2008, we have had three profitable quarters this year and we are on our way to another record year.

However, the global financial crisis — specifically the availability of consumer credit — is impacting markets all over the world, including those in South America. We are working hard to reduce our costs and conserve cash to help support the overall financial condition of the corporation.

Michael Vaughan is co-host with Jeremy Cato of Car/Business, which appears Fridays at 8 p.m. on Business News Network and Saturdays at 2 p.m. on CTV.