New & Fresh At General Motor

The newly-appointed female CEO of General Motors is a softly-spoken mother of two teenagers - who is not afraid of taking the company's latest models out for a high-speed spin around the test-track.

Mary Barra, who holds an MBA from Stanford University, is a GM 'lifer' who followed in her father's footsteps and joined the car company aged 18.

The 51-year-old will start her new job on January 15, taking over from CEO Dan Akerson as the first woman to fill the role. The appointment is something of a personal landmark for Mary Barra whose father Ray Makela was a GM die maker for 39 years at the Pontiac plant