General Motors Co reported on Thursday that its second quarter revenue reached US$39.1 billion, exceeding the US$38.37 analysts had forecasted. 

The U.S. automaker kept profits up from the first quarter by minimizing European losses through aggressive cost-cutting and increasing prices in North America.

Europe remains "very challenging" and it was too early to call improvements in revenue there, shared General Motors CFO Dan Ammann. The company had experienced its lowest net gain in 20 years for Europe during the first half.

In May, GM posted a higher-than-expected net gain for the first quarter after it forced costs to a minimum for its European and North American units. The cost-cutting move remained in place for the second quarter, where a US$400 million-difference in production costs was reported for its European branch compared to last year.

General Motors' North American unit had announced net profit of around US$2 billion for the second quarter, exceeding the US$1.75 billion that analysts had predicted.

"Obviously, what we don't control is the European macro-environment that remains very challenging, but we're making good progress despite that," stated Ammann in an interview conducted at the GM's headquarters in downtown Detroit.