GM CEO Henderson resigns

By Tim Beissmann | December 02nd, 2009

General Motors CEO, Fritz Henderson, has resigned today after the board decided that he was not the man to lead the company into the future.

The search for a replacement president and CEO will start immediately, with Chairman Edward Whitacre to succeed Henderson on an interim basis.

Whitacre today praised the efforts of Henderson, who assumed the top spot from Rick Wagoner in March and led the company through 39 days of bankruptcy.

“Fritz has done a remarkable job in leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change.

“While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made,” Whitacre said.

Whitacre emphasised that the change of leadership would not impact the day-to-day running of the company or its ambitions to return to profitability and repay its debts in the near future.

“I want to assure all of our employees, dealers, suppliers, union partners and most of all, our customers, that GM’s daily business operations will continue as normal.

“I remain more convinced than ever that our company is on the right path and that we will continue to be a leader in offering the worldwide buying public the highest quality, highest value cars and trucks.”

General Motors has not posted an annual profit since 2004 and sales have slumped in 2009.

Figures of US light-vehicle sales released today confirm a 32 per cent collapse year-to-date compared to 2008, or almost one million vehicles.

Safety Frist

Now lets see them put someone with ability into the top spot (no reflections on Henderson) but they have shown so far that they still believe that the old guard are right??? GM can do two things here, get a tru business person with a good track record and try to advance or stick with the Bob Lutz style emotional Dinosaurs they have had for the last century and continue to flounder from one bad decision to another.
jon

Deserting a sinking ship I`d say
Car Fanatic

what do you expect when they won’t change.
Jamison

Poach someone from either Toyota, Volkswagen to lead the company.

Maybe a young executive that is rising fast.

But then again, loyalty to the system of their current companies is strong, one good reason for succes… believing in the system.
TM

TITANIC??????????
adam (aka mada)

Look at GM and look at Ford, wow.

If the US goverment has a cap on GM’s top executives, it will be harder than usual to find a quality outside CEO to run GM.

I think this is a positive sign that GM is finally altering it’s outdated managment culture which was one major aspect of its ultimate collapse.

Safety Frist

But Bob is still there! even in a more powerful capacity………. (shakes head in bewilderment)

adam (aka mada)

Bob Lutz isn’t a GM lifer.
He’s worked for BMW, Crysler and Ford.

Safety Frist

I’m well aware of that, but his track record remains the same……… He and Whitacre have been undermining Henderson since day one. It is this factional group within GM that will utterly destroy the company….

adam (aka mada)

I actually want to see Bob Lutz go also, however hes not the CEO, it’s primarily been the very top that get kicked over the cliff.
IMO Fritz was a better bet to stay than Bob Lutz.

adam (aka mada)

Besides GM already went Bankrupt people!

Managing the new GM is very different from the old GM.
Mike

With the billions (that’s right billions!!!) spent on rescuing this “private” company between bailouts and Cash4Clunkers, they still can’t produce a vehicle that will outsell the Japanese. Maybe they should realize that Americans need jobs before they can buy cars. The last batch of overpriced cars they brought off the assembly line just got repossessed (see: http://www.repofinder.com) from unemployed Americans. I’d rather push a Toyota than drive a GM.

Safety Frist

Very funny Mike, incorrect but very funny…
GM has had a vehicle inside the top 5 sellers off all classes in the states for longer than Toyota have been on sale there.
I suppose you subscribe to the myth that they are where they are because they built dinosaur like big pickups that the public didn’t want?? News for all you product bashers, the GM pick-up twins are the second best selling vehicle in the states! F series is still the best seller by a large margin. Not bad for building the wrong vehicles.
The real reason they are where they are is bad management and over priced labour costs..
The reason why the southern state manufacturers didn’t suffer “as Bad” is because the local states they set up in BANNED the UAW from entering those factories. Because of this it is roughly estimated that the cost difference between Detroit and say Alabama is $3000.00 per car. Plus the southerners had their off shore parents to prop them up longer before the full GFC collapse happened.
The bad management commetn was based on people who believe they are car nuts and have a passion for the industry, unfortunatley you need a passion for business.

Frenchie

GM have plants in the southern states. It just that the overseas car companies got a better deal in these states to start up. As for the UAW, yes they took more than they should have, but GM, Ford and Chrysler let them.

Now look at the UAW, they had to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch and their members are worst off than their overseas car manufacturers workers based in the US.

Safety Frist

Actually the D3 were forced into letting the UAW get their way by Congress….. The Ford workers are still better off than the southern states, that is what Frod was trying to do last month, bring them into line with Alabama Mercedes Workers…. Canada agreed Detroit canned it…..

Skep

I prefer the school of thought that GM went tits up due to taking the customer for granted and not offering the product people wanted with the quality and innovation GM had in the 50s & 60s. Lutzy was more about fixing GM with engineering and substance as opposed to the bean counters that screwed the joint royally until it expired.

Lutz was too little too late and there was a limit to what he could achieve. Wasn’t it a GM Ceo form the eighties that said reforming General Motors was akin to teaching an elephant to tap dance.

Safety Frist

Read my above reply…. Lutz has proven to be not very bright when it comes to business. Ask Daimler Chrysler, and GM-Holden. Sure his ideas looked good in principle but were absolutely unmanagable (as far as sustainable manufacturing goes) in real life.
Chrysler had some fantastic styles under his reign (styles not nessecarily cars) but they were painted into a corner by not leaving themselves anywhere to go. EG PT Cruiser and 300C would need completely new designs to update themselves and they were hard acts to follow. Anything else would either be terrifyingly expensive in re tooling or (as has been) a disapointing blink and you’ll miss it update worse than B series Falcons..
VE has been hobled by a platform that (in this day and age) is to heavy. It should have been equiped with a stiffer lighter platform and the new engines up front like the Australian team wanted from the go get… Instead they were constantly told that the Americans wanted this by Lutz and this put them on the back foot. Yes Ve is GOOD, but for the coin spent it should have been FANTASTIC…
How to run a Detroit company properly can be seen by looking over the fence at Allan Mullaly and what he has done to Ford starting in the end of 2005……
Hey look that is only my understanding of the business and you may see it diferently, but until they get people with a passion for Business in charge (not car people or accountants) then they will not go ahead.

jon

Yeah just look at the latest Australian Best Car Awards with only Ford picking up an award for the Fiesta and GM picking up absolutely nothing.
Andrew M

Totally agree with your thoughts.

On the passion side of things, it is totally needed for success.

Take a look at not only Ford US, but also Ford Aus.
Now that MB has been at the helm he has made great changes over ruling decisions made by the previous “showin up for the pay check only” mentalitied (if thats a word) Americans that were before him.

MB has brought the I6 back from cancellation…..Totally out of Passion and committment. He understood the publics thoughts and put it into a business case. The previous passion lacking Americans couldnt give a stuff.

MB has also brought forward the Eco models from europe that the Americans just wanted to twiddle their thumbs about……..Passion for succeeding by using his foresight.

Captain Mainwaring

Didn’t resign…..fired!. Has anyone else read the comments his daughter placed on Facebook? Not a happy scene.
Given where GM’s last flame remains burning, maybe they should be putting someone from China in charge.
EX HSV

What a joke GM is. Billions and billions of dollars to keep them going and now another big knob is fired by OBAMA. GM should just go away because they will forever be a Gov owned and run company like they are now. There will be less new models and less development because they cant afford it being so far in debt to Obama…….he should have let them sink……..I bet he is thinking that now too…..
Andrew M

I can see a link between the Liberal party and GM……..

(apart from the burning government money thing)
AAA

The union is powerful.