General Motors has announced the retention of former Vice Chairman Robert A. “Bob” Lutz to provide counsel to the senior leadership team of the company.
It will be his third stint with the company and reflects the feeling at GM board level that his views, informed by more than forty years of management experience in the auto industry, are well worth hearing. He is expected to offer advice in the areas of marketing and product strategy.
Lutz (79) will be available to executives on a part-time consultancy basis effective immediately. In a statement GM said that Lutz has been providing advice to GM executives informally since retiring from the company at the end of 2009. The announcement effectively formalises the arrangement.
In his second stint at GM – he was invited back by former CEO Rick Wagoner in 2001 as ‘product czar’ – Lutz is credited with reviving GM’s product line-up and championing its investment in the range extending electric vehicle technologies that underpin the Chevrolet Volt.
Besides his two stints at General Motors, Lutz has also been a senior executive at Ford, Chrysler, BMW and was CEO of Exide Batteries.
See also: Interview with Bob Lutz
