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GM Czar Lutz Heading Back To Europe--To Opel?

 
5 2,586 views Nov 6, 2009
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GM's sudden decision this week to reverse path and keep Opel rather than sell a majority stake to Magna and Sberbank raised a lot of eyebrows, and even some tempers, around the world. Today, a report from Germany is saying car czar Bob Lutz is to be the next Chairman of Opel's supervisory board, following today's announcement of the departure of current Chairman and president of GM Europe, Carl-Peter Forster.

It wouldn't be the first time Lutz was sent to Europe on car business, as he kicked off his automotive career as part of the GM Europe team from 1963 to 1971. He also held the post of executive vice president of sales at BMW from 1971 to 1974. In the early 1980s, Lutz was Chairman of Ford of Europe and executive vice president of Ford's international operations.

On the other hand, he is also a part of the machine that saw Detroit in general and GM in particular drive itself straight off a cliff over the last several decades. So some in Europe are understandably cross about the idea of Lutz's leadership of Opel.

Lutz won't be taking Forster's position as head of GM Europe, however. That job will be reserved for Nick Reilly. There's no word yet on how Lutz's redirection to Opel will affect his role in GM's current marketing re-imagination campaign. The move could ease the already-planned import of the Opel Insignia as the next-gen Buick Regal.

[Spiegel Online via TTAC]





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Comments (5)

  1. By Yves TOUSSAINT Posted: 11/7/2009 2:58pm PST

    77 years old and co-responsible for the poor strategy of Opel in the last decade... a bright future!
     
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  2. By  uragan Posted: 11/7/2009 5:47pm PST

    There's nothing particularly wrong in Bob Lutz. He's a car guy, after all. What worries me is that GM hasn't been able to produce or find within their ranks someone to trust this much.
     
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  3. By Denny Posted: 11/9/2009 10:02am PST

    Well, I sure hope so... I'm tired of picking up the dry seeds on my driveway. He needs to get it together so the new horns are louder and the DFGs don't break after using them for more then five hours straight. Jesus H, can't a man have something that lasts.
     
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  4. By Benny B Posted: 11/9/2009 10:45am PST

    Oh, don't even get me started on those seeds and DFGs. No wonder the industry has collapsed.
     
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  5. By  cartucho r4i Posted: 11/18/2009 2:07am PST

    What’s it all mean? Well, the new GM board, led by former AT&T (T) chief Ed Whitacre, never liked the Magna deal. So as soon as the EU began making noises about how the sale had been forced on GM, the board acted to kill it. The board was also reportedly unhappy when current GM CEO Fritz Henderson presented the Magna deal as GM’s only real option several months back.
     
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