Topic: Fritz Henderson out at GM

[Railton]

I couldn't disagree more.

Fritz has been born and bred in the GM corporate culture. This very same culture is what has lead to GM's failure and most be changed if GM has any hope in the future (other than sucking on the tit of governments). GM should get an outsider in as Ford has done with Alan - someone with no ties to the company and has a great track record.

More rather like Roger Penske.
Railton

You mean like GM's new CEO Ed "I don’t know anything about cars" Whitacre??

[Careener]

[ovr50]

Detroit News article on Henderson's departure:

http://detnews.com/article/20091203/OPINION03/912030417/1148/Loss-of-industry-vet-may-haunt-GM

[ovr50]

Another scribe at Detroit News, not favorable to GM Board:

http://detnews.com/article/20091203/OPINION03/912030369/1148/auto01/GM-robs-products-of-needed-buzz

[articsteve]

linky no workie

on a related note:

Opel's CFO quits to pursue other interests

Paul McVeigh
Automotive News
December 2, 2009 - 9:48 am ET

MUNICH -- Opel's finance chief Marco Molinari quit to pursue other interests a day after the board of parent General Motors Co. ousted CEO Fritz Henderson.

Opel said a successor to Molinari, 45, will be “announced in due course.”

Molinari, an Austrian, has been Opel's CFO since 2005.

He joined GM in 1991 as senior financial analyst at the GM treasurer's office in New York and has held several leadership positions with GM and Opel, including assignments in New York, Argentina, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Mexico. He served in eight countries on three continents.

Opel Managing Director Hans Demant said Molinari was instrumental in helping Opel win a bridge loan from the German government when GM went into short-lived bankruptcy earlier this year.

"During a very difficult period, Marco Molinari has done a great job for our company and has proven his financial expertise” Demant said in a statement.

Molinari led the Olympia turnaround program at GM Europe and Opel from 2001 to 2003.
 
Opel's ship has a hole in it the size of a 747 and this guy knows when to save himself and his reputation.

[TopGun]

GM Announces Leadership Changes

2009-12-04

DETROIT – To improve accountability and responsibility for market performance in North America and around the world, several key leadership changes were announced today by GM Chairman and CEO, Ed Whitacre.

.....

Mark Reuss is named president of GM North America. Reuss was briefly vice president of Engineering after leading GM's Holden operations in Australia in 2008. Reporting to Reuss will be Susan E. Docherty, who is appointed vice president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing operations.
.....
Nick Reilly is named president, GM Europe. Reilly has been leading the restructuring efforts in Europe with the Opel/Vauxhall operations and will leave his role leading GM International Operations.

Tim Lee is named president of GM International Operations, overseeing GM's Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East operations. Lee was most recently group vice president, Manufacturing and Labor Relations.

Bob Lutz remains vice chairman and will act as advisor on design and global product development.

.....

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/04/breaking-whitacre-reportedly-to-announce-management-shakeups-at/#continued

[Leviathan]

as well as GM's dismal sales.

Dismal
By the Numbers - November 2009: Strengthen Your Core Edition

By the Numbers - November 2009: Strengthen Your Core Edition
It's pretty easy to stage a comeback when a prior year's monthly sales are so dismal, but that still doesn't dull the sheen off what happened last month for auto sales in the U.S.

Not surprisingly, Hyundai continues its winning ways with the largest increase in sales by volume at 45.91 percent. Newcomers to the I Know How To Sell Cars In A Down Market list include Nissan, up 19.94 percent, and Mercedes-Benz, up 19.11 percent. Subaru and Kia again perform flawlessly, posting gains of 23.95 and 18.27 percent, respectively.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that all four core brands of General Motors (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC) posted positive sales numbers last month, and in the case of Buick rose 14.78 percent. Ford also continued to stay positive, but just barely posting 2.02 percent gain for the brand against a 0.04 decrease for the motor company. You can blame that on Lincoln and Mercury, both of which were down.

As the U.S. auto industry continues to claw its way out of this recession, the Chrysler Group is seemingly being left behind. Of the multi-brand companies we follow, the Pentastar performed the worst (-25.45 percent). The next worst performer, BMW Group, was down only 7.54 percent. With sales down only 8.09 percent, the Dodge brand was the company's best performer.

Details are in a table at the bottom of the linked article.