General Motors was “surprised and genuinely saddened” by the Tuesday resignation of chief executive Fritz Henderson, vice chairman Bob Lutz said at the Los Angeles motor show a day after his former colleague was asked to leave by the GM board.
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“None of us had any hint,” he told reporters. “The board makes these decisions. [It’s] not something [management] would have done.”
According to Reuters, Lutz said the management team had a great deal of faith in and admiration for Henderson, but the executives would “just buckle down and get the job done.”
Lutz said he would not discuss other potential changes at GM. He also said he did not believe a change in CEO would be a setback for GM.
“You never like a distraction but, you know, the interesting thing is the public buys cars. They don’t buy management teams,” Lutz said.
Lutz replaced Henderson at the LA show on short notice a day after the GM board asked his former colleague to leave.
According to Dow Jones, Detroit veteran Lutz, a former GM ‘product czar’ who Henderson persuaded to postpone his planned retirement to oversee marketing, has been focused on GM’s progress since emerging from bankruptcy protection in July, in particular the planned launch of the much-promoted Chevrolet Volt electric plug-in car in California at the end of next year.
“It’s fair to say we have a much better foundation for success than perhaps anyone could have imagined this time last year,” he said.
GM chairman Ed Whitacre, now interim CEO, has told employees the company must focus on accelerating change and becoming profitable and thanked Henderson for taking GM through bankruptcy and stabilising it.
“That means we have to continue to fight this tendency that’s in any large organization to be risk-averse,” Lutz said in an interview with Dow Jones. “That kind of thinking generates predictable mediocrity.”
Whitacre hasn’t yet specified what needs to change following Henderson’s resignation, Lutz said at the show.
He added that Henderson shared the view that the company needed to take more risks, adding that Whitacre’s plans for GM likely would not include deeper reductions than already planned to dealers, jobs and model lines – it is currently selling or closing four brands sold mainly in North America.
GM officials have indicated the search for a new president and CEO could take months, and hinted that the board is focused on an external candidate.
