Did you think that finally sacking Mark LaNeve might have been another step in the direction towards the “culture change” promised land? Time for some new meds. And while we usually have to sit on our sour-puss predictions for a few days before being proven right, GM decided to back us up early this time. Automotive News [sub] reports that none other than Buick-GMC boss Susan Docherty will be replacing LaNeve at the pinnacle of the GM sales operation. “She brings a fresh perspective to the job and she has an extraordinarily high level of energy,” says Fritz Henderson. By which he means she’s a lifer, and owes her career to the timid, inept culture Henderson is simultaneously a product of and ostensibly bent on breaking.
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It’s a sad day for the dealer body. I felt GM had its best chance with him. He was a great leader and inspirational. Hopefully the rest of management will stay intact.
A Buick dealer gives the only known positive post-mortem for the latest victim of GM’s cultural revolution [via Automotive News [sub]]. A more fitting eulogy might be found here.
Fritz Henderson just confirmed in a conference call that GM’s VP for US Sales Mark LaNeve will be leaving the company by October 15. An email by Henderson obtained by the Detroit News, makes it clear just how long LaNeve outstayed his welcome. There’s damning with faint praise and then there’s this:
Mark has contributed significantly to GM in several key positions, including transforming the Cadillac brand and leading the vehicle sales, service and marketing organization during one of the most challenging periods in GM’s history. Please join me in thanking Mark for his dedication and wishing him and his family well. A replacement for Mark will be named at a later date
I have no idea why Mark LaNeve still works for General Motors. The former Cadillac man was serving Kool-Aid on the bridge when CEO Rick Wagoner was Richard Nixon channeling Captain Queeg. When Old GM sank into bankruptcy, LaNeve (and Bob Lutz and Fritz Henderson and the whole damn crew) should have gone down with the ship. Instead, they transferred to another boat and headed straight for the same iceberg. No surprise there: hitting icebergs is who they are and what they do. I’m not saying that LaNeve’s recent remarks about culling GM stores [via Automotive News] reveal that he’s wrong to trim the automaker’s bloated dealer network. I’m saying that LaNeve is going about it the wrong way. Here’s my thinking . . .
Bob Kruse, GM’s executive director of global vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries and the man in charge of the Volt’s battery development and integration, is leaving General Motors. The Detroit News reports Kruse is leaving to start an EV consulting firm, creatively named E V Consulting. “My departure from General Motors has nothing to do with my view of the future success for the Volt,” says Kruse. “I’ve left on very good terms. I have a lot of respect for the leadership of General Motors.” And then he goes and confuses everything by claiming, “I’m not going to lie. Are they happy about my departure? Probably not.” And GM’s response? “There’s no good time to lose good people, but that said, the Volt team goes way beyond one person.” Which, for comparison, is a more straightforward response than Tesla’s Elon Musk gave when his head of development and manufacturing suddenly ditched. But the real irony is that GM’s bailout, which at this point is a gamble that rides on the success or failure of the Volt, was the motivation for the Volt’s top midwife to ditch in the middle of its frenzied gestation.
Elon Musk and Martin Eberhard, two of the co-founders of Tesla announced today that they have resolved their dispute.
Tesla Motors statement announcing that the firm’s feuding founders have decided to play nice with each other instead of suing each other. “Without Martin’s indispensable efforts, Tesla Motors would not be here today,” says Elon. “As a co-founder of the company, Elon’s contributions to Tesla have been extraordinary,” says Martin. Aren’t they adorable?
TTAC’s founder Robert Farago is leaving the website after ten years of astonishing dedication to the pursuit of the truth about cars. Though he will no longer be leading TTAC, he leaves behind a legacy that will guide and inspire those of us who remain. The work of automotive truth-telling will continue under my stewardship, and I am grateful to Robert for giving me the opportunity to take on the challenge of a lifetime. Though no single person will be able to replace his wit, insight and work ethic, TTAC will carry on with the continued support of our contributors, commentators and readers.
Any transition is fraught with challenges, but we are very excited about the coming weeks and months. We will continue to bring the very best news, commentary, analysis and humor to this site, and we know that our Best and Brightest (old and new) will continue to add their voices to the discussion. Your insights and opinions have always been one of TTAC’s greatest strengths, and we appreciate them now more than ever.
Automotive News reports, “General Motors Co. will launch a broad post-bankruptcy advertising campaign next week with an introductory TV spot featuring new Chairman Ed Whitacre . . . The idea is to showcase GM’s best products, with Whitacre urging consumers to take a look at what the automaker has to offer.” THIS is what Old GM Car Czar/New GM Ad Czar Bob Lutz thinks will turn around the nationalized automaker’s sinking fortunes? More pan-brand feel good advertising? Or is it worse than that; some kind of sick, twisted Motown plot to get Eddy boy to become a GM insider? I mean, guys, this is the former AT&T exec who celebrated winning his seat at the GM BOD table by publicly pronouncing, “I don’t know anything about cars.” The guy who said he’d only need to jet into Detroit for a day or so. PER MONTH.
Fritz has been asked, but Fritz has yet to answer. The smart money says LaNeve is next to ride the Ray Young Express right out of the RenCen.
Fritz Henderson got a thumbs-up from the Board of Directors just days ago, but it seems that Chairman Ed Whitacre doesn’t want anyone to get comfortable. The Freep‘s Tom Walsh just posted a column describing GM execs as “rattled” by Whitacre’s recent revelation that at the New GM executives must earn their keep.
On Wednesday, Whitacre told a group of GM salaried staff — in one of several “diagonal slice” meetings, so called because they mix people from all levels — that he expects to see lots of changes in the next 12 weeks. Changes every day.
So, is the party over? Surely GM’s brass knew that there would be some accountability, someday. Right?
King Henry III’s motto was qui non dat quod habet non accipit ille quod optat. He who does not give what he has does not receive what he wants. Henry Ford III is down with that. Autoweek.com reports that Crazy Henry’s not-short-of-a-bob-or-two great-great grandson spent two years as a junior high English and math teacher. So tell me what he wants, what he really wants. Three Sticks is a bit cagey on the “someday this will all be mine” front. “‘That’s not something I’m really focused on,’ he said politely, sounding like the young William Clay Ford, a guy who eventually did take over the company. ‘At this point in my career, there’s so much to learn about the auto industry and I really enjoy the learning aspect.'” So what has the 29-year-old scion (small “s”) learned? “I think the Ford products are far and away superior to our competitors right now,” he said. “I drove an Accord, Civic, Pilot, I don’t think they’re as well-designed, I don’t think they drive as well, I think our products are far ahead of them.” Absit omen.
Anonymous sources tell the Wall Street Journal that former Toyota executive and current Chrysler Deputy CEO Jim Press will leave the Pentastar by the end of November. Press, who currently serves as a special adviser to Sergio Marchionne tells the WSJ ,”I don’t think anything has been released about management changes,” echoing Chrysler’s official “no comment.”
Read GM’s new organizational structure announcement in PDF format here.
BusinessWeek (BW) offers its readers a look inside Brand Spanking New Chrysler, or whatever they call it these days. Although the article’s written in the style of a PR puff piece, there’s plenty to disconcert the inherently skeptical (guess who). For example, does this strike you as the best way to re-jig your executive ranks? “Rather than rely on suggestions from top management, Marchionne asked more than 100 middle- and lower-ranked staffers what they thought of their bosses. Then, say people familiar with the process, he picked people most respected by their subordinates. ‘If he didn’t hear expressions of leadership voluntarily from people, he took it as a sign that they didn’t view the executive as a leader.'” So no one lied about their boss? Or everyone did? Or Marchionne favored the suits favored by brown nosers? And how did he know whether a testimonial was voluntary or inspired by Christmas party pictures? Color me confused about Chrysler.
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