Wagoner Hands NA Reins to ex-Asia-Pacific Chief That GM is in some trouble is news to nobody. The world's largest automaker's slide has been well publicized, making headlines last year for losing an
| |
| Troy Clarke, now ex-head of GM's most profitable market sector, Asia-Acific, will take over North American operations from Wagoner. (Photo: General Motors of Canada) |
unparalleled $10.6 billion US dollars. While the cause is a point of debate, GM's current CEO, Rick Wagoner has taken much of the flak for these losses, and rightfully so. As the head of GM's unprofitable North American operations he's responsible for the automaker's plans to cut 30,000 jobs and close nine factories by 2008, in order to limit the massive losses GM has encountered. So, in order to give himself more time to commit to the problem, or rather its solution, Wagoner has ceded control of the day-to-day North American operations to ex-Asia-Pacific head Troy Clarke. Wagoner stated that, "While much work remains to be done, we have reached several significant milestones in our turnaround plan over the past year. This is the right time to turn the region's day-to-day operations over to Troy, who has the experience and skills to help lead the GMNA team as it continues this unprecedented restructuring. Troy has a track record of success in general management, manufacturing and labor rel
| |
| GM's Wilmington plant, responsible for the popular Sostice, just added a third shift to the assembly line; giving investors some hope of recovery. (Photo: General Motors of Canada) |
ations in the United States and globally, which will be invaluable in his new assignment." That track record Wagoner mentions involves leading the most profitable sales market in GMs portfolio; the aforementioned Asian-Pacific market. That division turned a $453 million dollar profit in the first quarter of 2006, as compared to the North American operation's posted loss of $503 million USD during the same time span. And while he will be stepping down from the head of GM North America, Wagoner will not be out of the picture entirely. According to a press release, Wagoner will still be involved in "executing the next key steps in the GMNA turnaround plan." That plan involves such things as reorganizing GM's largest supplier, Delphi, as well as the completion of the "attrition and capacity-reduction programs," plus the eventual achievement of the $7 billion USD structural loss-reduction target. He will also be involved in product development and release. This restructuring comes at the end of a campaign that has left investors worried, as GM has steadily lost market share to import giants Toyota and
| |
| GM's high-profit truck market has been losng ground due predominantly to high gas prices. (Photo: General Motors of Canada) |
Honda; losing a whopping 26.2 percent of their total market share last year alone. To curb losses and fund new models that GM hopes will dig them out of the hole, the Detroit-based automaker has been selling its assets, including 51 percent of its finance unit, GMAC. Unfortunately slimming down hasn't entirely worked, and although the newest models, such as the Saturn Sky, Pontiac Solstice, and updated Corvette have garnered much attention, they simply can't make up for the losses in other areas; specifically the high-profit truck market.