Before Being Named CEO, Mary Barra Did Awesome Stuff With GM's Product Line

General Motors announced today that Mary Barra will succeed Dan Akerson as the company's first female CEO.

The 30-year GM veteran has spent the last few years as executive vice president of global product development and senior vice president for global product development.

There, she was "responsible for the design, engineering, program management and quality of General Motors vehicles around the world," according to her GM bio.

That makes her an excellent choice to lead the automaker, because in the past few years GM has produced a ton of outstanding vehicles, with a visible uptick in sales.

In an email, Kelly Blue Book Senior Analyst Alec Gutierrez wrote "in November, GM saw sales improved by more than 13 percent, thanks in large part to a host of new introductions and redesigns that have caught the attention of consumers."

KBB President Jared Rowe wrote that "GM is in more than capable hands, as we've seen some of the best products released under Mary Barra, who has helped to oversee the development of their vehicles on a global scale."

So let's run through some of those successes.

The clearest example is the resurgence of Cadillac in the past decade, which has really accelerated over the past two years. This year, the formerly defunct luxury brand brought out two all-new models, the ATS and XTS sedans, and introduced a new generation of the CTS. All three look great and are selling nicely, and the CTS was named Motor Trend's Car of the Year, one of the more prestigious awards in the industry.

Chevrolet has been killing it too. It gave the aging Impala a makeover and produced a car that really impressed us.