General Motors beat Wall Street expectations with its first quarter earnings, posting a solid $1 Billion profit despite increasing weakness in Europe.

Hourly workers in North America will reap profit-sharing bonuses after the automaker saw $1.7 Billion in earnings in its home market.

Nevertheless, the $1 B in earnings was down from  $3.2 B made a year ago.

“The U.S. economic recovery, record demand for GM vehicles in China and the global growth of the Chevrolet brand helped deliver solid earnings for General Motors,” said Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO. “New products are starting to make a difference in South America, but Europe remains a work in progress. We’ll continue to work on both revenue and cost opportunities until we have brought GM to competitive levels of profitability.”

It's GM's ninth-straight quarterly profit in a row, the longest stretch in the black since a decade ago.

The company expects its North American performance to be just as strong in the 2nd and 3rd quarters for the year.