By Chris Haak
02.21.2010
In a surprising twist, GM has disclosed that it re-hired deposed CEO Fritz Henderson, whose brief tenure as President and CEO lasted from March 31, 2009 through December 1, 2009, as a consultant to advise on GM’s international operations. Henderson, who did not receive a severance package upon his departure from the automaker, will receive $59,090 per month ($709,080 annualized) for approximately 20 hours of work per month. This arrangement will be in place until some point prior to the end of 2010.
Though Henderson’s tenure as CEO was very brief, it was certainly eventful, as he guided GM through its trip through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the middle of 2009. He began his career at GM in 1984, and served in various leadership roles throughout his career. Most notably, he headed GM’s Brazilian operations in the late 1990s, then led Latin America/Africa/Middle East, then GM Asia-Pacific, and his overseas sojourn concluded with the job of Chairman, GM Europe. He then returned to the US in 2006 as GM’s CFO, and was promoted to President and COO in March 2008, and a year later, took over as President and CEO following the departure of Rick Wagoner.
You’ve probably seen at least a few closed auto dealerships around where you live; sprawling, empty lots with a big building on it, looking forlorn and abandoned.
People who drive appliance-type cars solely to get from point A to point B may not get this, but some of us have a lot of emotion and passion wrapped up in our choice of vehicles. Since I have been old enough to buy nice cars, I’ve been a Saab driver. A combination of my Swedish heritage, and the cars’ highly-engineered systems have always attracted me to them.
Hyundai introduced the all-new Tucson crossover in December of last year, showing off a sleeker design and improved powertrain in an effort to bring in new buyers and that effort seems to be paying off.
For most of you, the excitement over ethanol is probably sort of a hazy memory; you remember when all the fuss was being made over ethanol fuel, but you also remember that it was rather quickly shown that making ethanol from corn was not a good deal from an environmental and energy standpoint.
Hyundai sales went up in a decidedly down US market in 2009, and the company sees blue skies in an improving market in 2010. Their sunny prediction is that Hyundai will go from 4.2% percent market share last year to 4.5% this year. To do so, the Korean manufacturer will need to hit 500,000 unit sales.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has told reporters in Toronto that he sees the Alfa Romeo brand returning to the United States in 2012. He made the remarks last Friday, but there was some confusion about just what was said over the weekend until a Chrysler Media Relations spokesman confirmed Marchionne’s statement earlier today.
