http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/gm-fritz-henderson-ed-whitacre-med.jpg

Frederick "Fritz" Henderson has resigned as General Motors chief executive officer.

Henderson (left, in the photo above) was appointed CEO on March 29, replacing Rick Waggoner who shown the door by the Obama administration. Over the last eight months, Henderson worked at reorganizing the company. GM announced that Chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. (right, in the photo) will take over as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.

"Fritz has done a remarkable job in leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change," said Whitacre. "While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made. To this end, I have taken over the role of Chairman and CEO while an international search for a new president and CEO begins immediately. With these new duties, I will begin working in the Renaissance Center headquarters on a daily basis. The leadership team – many who are with me today – are united and committed to the task at hand."

During Henderson's tenure, GM filed for Chapter 11 protection and, 40 days later, emerged from protection with help from the government. On Nov. 16, Henderson announced GM would begin paying back the government's $6.7 billion loan.

As part of the company's recovery efforts, GM scaled back to four key brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Pontiac is shutting down and GM found a Chinese buyer for Hummer. GM also came close to finding new owners for Saturn and Saab. A deal with Roger Penske for Saturn fell apart, while a deal for Saab with Koenigsegg also fell through. GM also announced today it has "has received expressions of interest in Saab" and will evaluate potential bids before the end of December.

More: Report: GM CEO Fritz Henderson Resigns (http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2009/12/report-gm-ceo-fritz-henderson-resigns.html) on AutoGuide.com

Hahaha, yeahhhh. Heck, i'll drink to this. I love how hes standing next to a car he probably knows nothing about. lol

Very surprising to me. Many over on GMI were glad and hoped that the door hit him the arse on the way out. The direction seemed solid (other than the demise of our beloved brand). Anyone have insight into this?

Anyone have insight into this?

All I know is that GM needs a CEO that will focus more on their advertising department. It is absolutely terrible. Not once did I see a intriguing G8 GT commercial. Now, in one night I saw eight commercials showing the new Taurus SHO smoking and Audi A6. A mediocre car, at best, being shown to the general public as being a *****in supercar. GM needs to do this! The G8 didn't sell because nobody knew what the ***** it is! I'm so sick of people asking me if is a 4 banger or a 6 that i'm starting to avoid shopping! lol

Good point. Wasn't the total lack of marketing for the G8 pre-Fritz though?

See ya Fritz!

Here's a little parting gift --> :slap:

He will not be missed.

JAM

Wasn't the total lack of marketing for the G8 pre-Fritz though?

Absolutely, and if he had a winners mentality he would have brain stormed with his marketing team a way to get the car's name to the public. Instead he chose the LOSER way, because he is a LOSER, to give up and choose the simple way of just axing the car.

Get ready for the barrage of "Bring back the Commodore as a chevy/buick!" cries and the "Bob for CEO" chants!

wait for it....wait for it...

It cannot be put into words how much this made my day!

Get ready for the barrage of "Bring back the Commodore as a chevy/buick!" cries and the "Bob for CEO" chants!

wait for it....wait for it...

How did you know exactly what I was thinking? :secret:

great news !!!

+ 1 willie

I have a feeling we now have a chance for G8 to be back

All I know is that GM needs a CEO that will focus more on their advertising department. It is absolutely terrible. Not once did I see a intriguing G8 GT commercial. Now, in one night I saw eight commercials showing the new Taurus SHO smoking and Audi A6. A mediocre car, at best, being shown to the general public as being a *****in supercar. GM needs to do this! The G8 didn't sell because nobody knew what the ***** it is! I'm so sick of people asking me if is a 4 banger or a 6 that i'm starting to avoid shopping! lol
The Trans Am was poorly advertised as well as the GTO. I see enough commercials on TV for the Dodge Ram ("and my tank is full"), Charger, 300 to make me want to :sick: :barf:

Get ready for the barrage of "Bring back the Commodore as a chevy/buick!" cries and the "Bob for CEO" chants!

wait for it....wait for it...

Better yet...bring back Pontiac!

He may have been good for the short term, but I think he would've hosed the company in the long term. This is probably a good change.

Must have been my last email and letter to him, that drove him over the edge. Shame on him and GM for the demise of a great model. Throw in Uncle Sam also, for their kind intervention. It would take a Lee Ioacocco to bring GM around. I wonder how much money he will get as his last paycheck, plus retirement package?

Wow! Think of all the possibilities!!

Wow. I thought I was the only one that felt this way about Fritz. I agree with all you guys. What is known about Ed Whitacre, his replacement?? Just hope he is more of a car guy and listens to Bob. I agree, just bring back some of the better Pontiac's...G8, Solstice,...heck even the G6 convertible could have some real possiblities with a few updates. Such a waste of engineering development to throw these cars away.

Good riddance.

Bob Lutz as CEO (car guy from the word go), and Mark Ruess as President (recently appointed as GM Engineering Chief after a term as President of Holden). That way you got the guy pushing the envelope on cars, Lutz, and the guy that knows what is possible/doable, Ruess, working for the good of GM, AND having insight into what the buying public wants!:wink2::pir_flag:

... What is known about Ed Whitacre, his replacement?? Just hope he is more of a car guy and listens to Bob...

During an early interview, Ed revealed why our economy is tanking:

“I don’t know anything about cars,” Whitacre, 67, said yesterday in an interview after his appointment. “A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old, and I think the business principles are the same.”

With a few more MBAs in charge, we'll be back to living in caves.

Was Whitacre placed by the Federal Gov?
If that's the case PafromFL is correct. this will set GM back 20 years.
"A business is a business"? Is this guy serious? You business is selling automobiles to try and stay afloat and he doesn't know sht from shine-olah about them....great!
Im sure the feds put this guy in.

Bob Lutz as CEO (car guy from the word go), and Mark Ruess as President (recently appointed as GM Engineering Chief after a term as President of Holden). That way you got the guy pushing the envelope on cars, Lutz, and the guy that knows what is possible/doable, Ruess, working for the good of GM, AND having insight into what the buying public wants!:wink2::pir_flag:

Lutz needs to be the next CEO.

Bob Lutz as CEO (car guy from the word go), and Mark Ruess as President (recently appointed as GM Engineering Chief after a term as President of Holden). That way you got the guy pushing the envelope on cars, Lutz, and the guy that knows what is possible/doable, Ruess, working for the good of GM, AND having insight into what the buying public wants!:wink2::pir_flag:

We (and GM) should be so lucky...

During an early interview, Ed revealed why our economy is tanking:

“I don’t know anything about cars,” Whitacre, 67, said yesterday in an interview after his appointment. “A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old, and I think the business principles are the same.”

With a few more MBAs in charge, we'll be back to living in caves.

He came from running AT&T. Anyone that's dealt with them will recognize that they run like the GM of the telecom world!

Jim Wangers (original GTO marketing guy and a true "car guy") has written a few articles on who killed Pontiac. In the end he says putting non-"car guys" in charge that have no passion for the product (or cars in general) is what killed Pontiac. Scale this up and it's true for GM as a whole. There are those who buck the tend such as Ford's CEO who I believe came from one of the DIY big box retailers and is not really a "car guy".

We (and GM) should be so lucky...



He came from running AT&T. Anyone that's dealt with them will recognize that they run like the GM of the telecom world!

Jim Wangers (original GTO marketing guy and a true "car guy") has written a few articles on who killed Pontiac. In the end he says putting non-"car guys" in charge that have no passion for the product (or cars in general) is what killed Pontiac. Scale this up and it's true for GM as a whole. There are those who buck the tend such as Ford's CEO who I believe came from one of the DIY big box retailers and is not really a "car guy".

Ford's head came from Boeing where he was the head of the commercial airplane division. I'm sure he ran into a lot of the same problems there as he did when he walked into Ford. Just in time parts organization would be something he is very familiar with, Boeing thrives when it works, and suffers when it doesn't. Their recent problems with getting the 787 in the air is a prime example. When the sub contractors and parts companies fail, the project suffers mightily! :wink2::driving:

Thanks for nothing, Fritz.

-You kill off Pontiac entirely yet keep Buick on as a quasi-luxury brand between Chevy and Cadillac which makes no sense since GM is now left with no sporty brand. Buick=Mercury....overpriced Ford and watered Lincoln at the same time, only in this case it's an overpriced Chevy and watered down Caddy. Bet alot of people don't realize it, but in 2007 and 2008, PONTIAC SOLD NEARLY DOUBLE THE VEHICLES BUICK DID IN THE U.S.!! This is nuts when you consider Buick also had FOUR SUVs on the market and Pontiac had ONE (not including that dud called Aztek). In fact, Pontiac sold more G6 cars than Buick did with it's WHOLE car lineup!! But, hey, no one "wants" a Pontiac, right?

-You kill off the Americanized Commodore G8 being reborn as a Chevy so the only brand capable of supporting an affordable, sporty car can't sell it. At the same time, the ancient Chevy Impala and far newer/better Malibu redundancy continues as the 2 practically same sized, front wheel drive, $20-30k range cars share the same showroom while a perfectly good Commodore waits to be badged as a rear drive Impala.

-Then the kicker of them all, you give the go-ahead to have Holden Statesmen (stretched G8's) sold as police cruisers but seem to think that, while they are good enough for government duty, they just wouldn't catch on as civilian vehicles!

And these things listed above were among the many screw-ups that happened just recently, and more conveniently, just before you ducked out the back door. I'm sure there's a golden parachute SOMEWHERE in your contract that ensures you million$ for all your "contributions". Nice work. :rant:

Thanks for nothing, Fritz.

-You kill off Pontiac entirely yet keep Buick on as a quasi-luxury brand between Chevy and Cadillac which makes no sense since GM is now left with no sporty brand. Buick=Mercury....overpriced Ford and watered Lincoln at the same time, only in this case it's an overpriced Chevy and watered down Caddy. Bet alot of people don't realize it, but in 2007 and 2008, PONTIAC SOLD NEARLY DOUBLE THE VEHICLES BUICK DID IN THE U.S.!! This is nuts when you consider Buick also had FOUR SUVs on the market and Pontiac had ONE (not including that dud called Aztek). In fact, Pontiac sold more G6 cars than Buick did with it's WHOLE car lineup!! But, hey, no one "wants" a Pontiac, right?

-You kill off the Americanized Commodore G8 being reborn as a Chevy so the only brand capable of supporting an affordable, sporty car can't sell it. At the same time, the ancient Chevy Impala and far newer/better Malibu redundancy continues as the 2 practically same sized, front wheel drive, $20-30k range cars share the same showroom while a perfectly good Commodore waits to be badged as a rear drive Impala.

-Then the kicker of them all, you give the go-ahead to have Holden Statesmen (stretched G8's) sold as police cruisers but seem to think that, while they are good enough for government duty, they just wouldn't catch on as civilian vehicles!

And these things listed above were among the many screw-ups that happened just recently, and more conveniently, just before you ducked out the back door. I'm sure there's a golden parachute SOMEWHERE in your contract that ensures you million$ for all your "contributions". Nice work. :rant:

I think that pretty much nailed it on the head.

Thanks for nothing, Fritz.

-You kill off Pontiac entirely yet keep Buick on as a quasi-luxury brand between Chevy and Cadillac which makes no sense since GM is now left with no sporty brand. Buick=Mercury....overpriced Ford and watered Lincoln at the same time, only in this case it's an overpriced Chevy and watered down Caddy. Bet alot of people don't realize it, but in 2007 and 2008, PONTIAC SOLD NEARLY DOUBLE THE VEHICLES BUICK DID IN THE U.S.!! This is nuts when you consider Buick also had FOUR SUVs on the market and Pontiac had ONE (not including that dud called Aztek). In fact, Pontiac sold more G6 cars than Buick did with it's WHOLE car lineup!! But, hey, no one "wants" a Pontiac, right?

-You kill off the Americanized Commodore G8 being reborn as a Chevy so the only brand capable of supporting an affordable, sporty car can't sell it. At the same time, the ancient Chevy Impala and far newer/better Malibu redundancy continues as the 2 practically same sized, front wheel drive, $20-30k range cars share the same showroom while a perfectly good Commodore waits to be badged as a rear drive Impala.

-Then the kicker of them all, you give the go-ahead to have Holden Statesmen (stretched G8's) sold as police cruisers but seem to think that, while they are good enough for government duty, they just wouldn't catch on as civilian vehicles!

And these things listed above were among the many screw-ups that happened just recently, and more conveniently, just before you ducked out the back door. I'm sure there's a golden parachute SOMEWHERE in your contract that ensures you million$ for all your "contributions". Nice work. :rant:

http://www.midweststreetrydersforum.com/vb/images/smilies/handclap.gif

Thanks for nothing, Fritz.

-You kill off Pontiac entirely yet keep Buick on as a quasi-luxury brand between Chevy and Cadillac which makes no sense since GM is now left with no sporty brand. Buick=Mercury....overpriced Ford and watered Lincoln at the same time, only in this case it's an overpriced Chevy and watered down Caddy. Bet alot of people don't realize it, but in 2007 and 2008, PONTIAC SOLD NEARLY DOUBLE THE VEHICLES BUICK DID IN THE U.S.!! This is nuts when you consider Buick also had FOUR SUVs on the market and Pontiac had ONE (not including that dud called Aztek). In fact, Pontiac sold more G6 cars than Buick did with it's WHOLE car lineup!! But, hey, no one "wants" a Pontiac, right?

-You kill off the Americanized Commodore G8 being reborn as a Chevy so the only brand capable of supporting an affordable, sporty car can't sell it. At the same time, the ancient Chevy Impala and far newer/better Malibu redundancy continues as the 2 practically same sized, front wheel drive, $20-30k range cars share the same showroom while a perfectly good Commodore waits to be badged as a rear drive Impala.

-Then the kicker of them all, you give the go-ahead to have Holden Statesmen (stretched G8's) sold as police cruisers but seem to think that, while they are good enough for government duty, they just wouldn't catch on as civilian vehicles!

And these things listed above were among the many screw-ups that happened just recently, and more conveniently, just before you ducked out the back door. I'm sure there's a golden parachute SOMEWHERE in your contract that ensures you million$ for all your "contributions". Nice work. :rant:

Maybe bozo was too kind! Inept piece of **** maybe more appropriate!:wink2::pir_flag:

Guys, maybe some good news after all. Today's GM Lutz blog asked if they could bring the G8 back now? The answer is "Yes, it will in all likelihood come back in Chevy high-performance sedan guise. But this will be a few years from now as we will bring it in after the freshening(?). We want to make sure it has a strong chevy identity so it doesn't appear to be a rebadge". The good news is the Zeta will be back. Unfortunately for some it won't be a Pontiac.

Guys, maybe some good news after all. Today's GM Lutz blog asked if they could bring the G8 back now? The answer is "Yes, it will in all likelihood come back in Chevy high-performance sedan guise. But this will be a few years from now as we will bring it in after the freshening(?). We want to make sure it has a strong chevy identity so it doesn't appear to be a rebadge". The good news is the Zeta will be back. Unfortunately for some it won't be a Pontiac.

Interesting! Got a link? Like to read the whole article.:wink2::pir_flag:

This was an article in the GM newsline. I quoted word for word and that was all that was mentioned Re: the G8. The Ute was mentioned and is still not a player. Sorry about No link. Maybe an administrator can attach some type of link or reprint.

Guys, maybe some good news after all. Today's GM Lutz blog asked if they could bring the G8 back now? The answer is "Yes, it will in all likelihood come back in Chevy high-performance sedan guise. But this will be a few years from now as we will bring it in after the freshening(?). We want to make sure it has a strong chevy identity so it doesn't appear to be a rebadge". The good news is the Zeta will be back. Unfortunately for some it won't be a Pontiac.

Great!

Hell i dont really care if it wears a chevy badge. Thats actually great for me, so now when i get one ill have a new aged chevy to go with my box chevy when i get it out the shop.

GM Newsline forum is offline, and has been all day, so can't confirm this supposed statement by Bob Lutz. No other GM info source is reporting this either. One would think if Bob Lutz made this statement, again (we all remember the first time he told us it was coming back, don't we?), we would have heard about it in numerous web sites?!?:wink2::pir_flag:

The bummer is if they bring the G8 back as a Chevy it'll lose a lot of character as Chevy's nose and tail treatments are less than inspiring these days. I guess on the positive the platform would live...

Hey BBBBGXP, any luck with GM e newsline? It was under the employee blog tuesday.
Lutz also mentioned the Gov. influence and claims it is non existent in Day2Day running.

As much as I would like to believe that they will bring back the G8 or a Chevy version and it's fun to dream. I don't think at this time a statement like that actually happened. Hope I'm wrong but since I could not confirm that the statement actual happened and it was told to the press I would think that every auto blog out there would have jumped all over it. Like BBBBGXP I searched the internet trying to find a second source to confirm it and couldn't. Even the original source has been down for more than a day now. Just means I still have a one of the last great Pontiacs

IMHO Wishful thinking

tripower (http://www.g8board.com/forums/member.php?u=1768),

Word is the 2012 Chevrolet SS will happen. We could always get the VE SS parts and convert the front and rear like some people are doing now.

I like the look of the current Middle-Eastern Chevy Lumina. Pretty appropriate looking. Could deal with that for sure. Forget the wait for the "refresh", Bob, and just start importing it as the Impala NOW! The current Impala front wheel drive is WAAAAY long in tooth. Look, everyone already KNOWS it's a rebadge. Who cares??? It's a great car...just do it!

Word is the 2012 Chevrolet SS will happen. We could always get the VE SS parts and convert the front and rear like some people are doing now.

Words are just that: words. GM said that they would be importing the Holden Ute into the US. They also siad that they changed their mind before saying that Pontiac will be closed. We haven't heard anything (other than Lutz slipping) about the Zeta cars being imported from Oz. I now go by the motto, "I'll believe it when I see it".

I like the look of the current Middle-Eastern Chevy Lumina. Pretty appropriate looking. Could deal with that for sure. Forget the wait for the "refresh", Bob, and just start importing it as the Impala NOW! The current Impala front wheel drive is WAAAAY long in tooth. Look, everyone already KNOWS it's a rebadge. Who cares??? It's a great car...just do it!

GM has already set in stone that the next Impala will be FWD. At least they have plans to put it on a more modern chassis instead of keeping it on GM-10/W-body. They will have to use a different name if the "Lumina" comes to America.

Hey BBBBGXP, any luck with GM e newsline? It was under the employee blog tuesday.
Lutz also mentioned the Gov. influence and claims it is non existent in Day2Day running.

Just went to GMNewsline, again, and it is still down. Supposedly "will be back soon". Same thing it said yesterday. Guess "soon" has a much different meaning to the web master of the site than most of us have. At this point, barring further supporting sources, and/or the return of the site, I'm calling :bs:

The Lutz statement was not to the press but only to GM employees on his weekly blog. The e newsline is for GM employees only. I am not aware of any outside web site by that name so not sure where you guys are looking. I get an update 5 days a week and it has been up all week. Sorry about the confusion. As for Chfpontiac and the M.E. Lumina I think it looks great and I would let it rest in my garage. I agree, it is a current Chev product and should be imported as is .

The Lutz statement was not to the press but only to GM employees on his weekly blog. The e newsline is for GM employees only. I am not aware of any outside web site by that name so not sure where you guys are looking. I get an update 5 days a week and it has been up all week. Sorry about the confusion. As for Chfpontiac and the M.E. Lumina I think it looks great and I would let it rest in my garage. I agree, it is a current Chev product and should be imported as is .


OK, but this is rather big news. Don't you think that if GM had decided to do this, that the word would be out to more than the selected employees that got the email/whatever thingy that you profess to have gotten? I mean the last time Maximum Bob said something like this, it was all over the world in less than a day! I still say, prove it, or fess up to the joke! I'll be more than happy to eat my words if you can support the statement thru any known sources, ie car mags, news forums, etc.:wink2::pir_flag:

All I know is that GM needs a CEO that will focus more on their advertising department. It is absolutely terrible. Not once did I see a intriguing G8 GT commercial. Now, in one night I saw eight commercials showing the new Taurus SHO smoking and Audi A6. A mediocre car, at best, being shown to the general public as being a *****in supercar. GM needs to do this! The G8 didn't sell because nobody knew what the ***** it is! I'm so sick of people asking me if is a 4 banger or a 6 that i'm starting to avoid shopping! lol

The Howie Long commercials have been good. Especially the one with the gas mileage comparisons and Howie showing the one product that Honda makes which Chevy can't compete with (lawnmower that "self-propels") lol

OK,One more time. Looking at Socrates(GM Website) under myGM blog, Bob Lutz employee blogchat- December 14
I know there are other GM employees out there-someone back me up. I certainly didn't make this up as I am excited about this,hopefully, happening in the future.

NICE.... Maybe they'll bring back Pontiac and get rid of th Buick brand...