QuasiMondo

GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign - Mar. 29, 2009

Effective immediately, Rick Wagoner will step down as CEO of General Motors. While I'd like to say something nice about him, I can't. In the nearly 11 years that he has been their Chief Executive officer, GM's share in the North American market has been nearly halved, the company's stock has fallen 98-percent, they lost their lead of both the nation's and world's largest automaker to Toyota, and ruined the company's reputation for innovation by relying too much on their SUV's and forgoing truly innovative concepts like the EV1 program.

COO Fritz Henderson is expected to be named as the interim CEO, and one can only hope that they get a Alan Mulally caliber leader to turn this ship around...if it can even be turned around.

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Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

james t kirk

Agreed.

Wagoner basically was at the controls during GM's race to the bottom.

It was one series of misques to the next - from not selling Hummer while there was a market for it, to putting all his eggs into the SUV / Truck market, to spending 5 billion dollars on the aborted FIAT deal - Wagoner was the guy in charge.

The only guy I can think of that might be able to save GM from themselves is Carlos Ghosn - the CEO of Nissan. When Ghosn took over Nissan, they were in debt up to the ears (something like 20 billion) and only 2 or 3 of their 35 models were profitable.

Ghosn came in and turned Nissan around in a year (mind you, even Nissan is suffering these days)

powerclown

They should replace the entire top executive management and design groups for both GM and Chrysler if you ask me. Rename the companies. Demolish their headquarters and build anew. 90% of their cars and trucks plain suck compared to the competition. I like driving responsive cars and don't like having to feel shamed into buying inferior, boring cars just because they are American-made. Don't let the door hit you, Dick.

BadNick

Apparently Dick dicked them all...good riddance.

If anyone is able to rebuild and revive GM, and the U.S. auto industry, it will rekindle my faith in humanity. I hope they find a team that can do that.

Bear Cub

Yes, he's a dick, but why should his decision to step down have to be perpetuated by Obama being the one to suggest that he do so?

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Living in the United Socialist States of America.

QuasiMondo

Because the Board of Bystanders is too indifferent/impotent/incompetent to do it themselves. Obama should've called for them to step down as well.

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Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

laconic1

Wagoner should have been forced out when he went to the Board of Directors for a vote of confidence three years ago. It was obvious then that GM was in bad shape, the only thing that propped them up this long was 17 million unit/year industry volume, an amount unheard of prior to this decade. I don't like that it took the Obama administration to do the Boards job for them, but since the board wasn't doing their jobs either the appropriate action had to be taken. I've also read today that most of the board is on their way out too. Good.

I've been thinking about who should be Wagoner's longer term replacement. I've heard Mitt Romney's name bandied about, but I don't think he would even want any part of it, since if he fails he can forget about running for President again. The person I think might be a good candidate is Jerry York. He has experience with turnarounds with Chrysler in the '90s and IBM in about that same time period. He was on GM's board as Kirk Kerkorian's representative a few years ago until he started speaking up a little too much for Wagoner and the boards liking.

Tully Mars

I had this big long thing written out and my net crashed. So I'll just say pretty much ditto to Otto and Nick.

With an added they drove the freaking bus so far in the ditch now and are running out the doors with million dollar parachutes that I'm not sure any of it salvageable at this point.

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

shakran

Because GM is begging Obama for money. When you want money from someone you kinda have to follow their conditions. If they don't like the conditions, then don't ask for the money.

Bear Cub

Why not do the same with all of the other bailout-ees?

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.

shakran

Good question. They should have.

QuasiMondo

If only they could turn back the clock. The Administration's handling of GM and Chrysler is a direct result of the public outrage over AIG's bonuses. You can rest assured that from here on out any further bailouts to anybody will come with strings attached.

__________________
Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

Bear Cub

Oh how I wish I could believe that.

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.