Chris Liddell, General Motors’ chief financial officer, has quit despite returning the US brand back to profit for the first time since 2004.

GM said treasurer Dan Ammann will replace Lidell.

Within his 14 months in the role, Liddell helped GM to raise $23.1 billion in a public stock offering and also helped GM’s to post $4.7 billion, its largest profit in 10 years.

Lidell told a press conference today: “When I came to GM, my primary goal was to help get the company back on its feet.

"There is no wider context here other than I've done to a large extent what I hoped to achieve, and it's time to move on."