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General Motors has finally unleashed its loquacious vice chairman, Robert A. Lutz, who has been uncharacteristically silent during the debate over a Washington bailout for the car companies.
In an interview on CNBC Monday morning, Mr. Lutz came to the defense of the man who revived his automotive career: G.M. chief executive Rick Wagoner. Calls for Mr. Wagoner’s ouster are “like blaming the mayor of a city that’s been hit by an earthquake,” Mr. Lutz said.
Those calls have come from some pretty high places.
On Sunday, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the chairman of the banking committee that is drafting the legislation, called for the dismissal or resignation of Mr. Wagoner, given G.M.’s status as the most imperiled automaker.
“I think you’ve got to consider new leadership,” Mr. Dodd said in an interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “If you’re going to really restructure this, you’ve got to bring in a new team to do this, in my view.”
Asked specifically about Mr. Wagoner, Mr. Dodd said: “I think he has to move on.”
Although Mr. Wagoner admitted last week that G.M. had made mistakes that led to its current predicament, Mr. Lutz said it was unfair to call for Mr. Wagoner’s ouster and that of other G.M. executives.
“To me, that’s in the category of a sacrificial lamb or some as some sort of sacrifice to the gods, and maybe if we punish one of the innocents, things will get better,” Mr. Lutz said in the interview.
Along with his other accomplishments, Mr. Wagoner “undertook the extremely unconventional move of hiring a 70-year-old as vice chairman of product development. He has empowered me to transform product development at General Motors” which has won a series of awards for its new vehicles, said Mr. Lutz, who had left Chrysler and was running a battery company when Mr. Wagoner invited him to join G.M. in 2002.
Paraphrasing a line used by his former boss, Lee Iacocca, Mr. Lutz continued, “If you can find a better executive leadership team, by all means, hire it. But it would be a very difficult task. If swapping us out makes everybody feel better, that’s one thing. But will it make the company run better? I sincerely doubt it.”
hahahaahahhaha! Are you fucking kidding me? You guys lost $66 Billion last year. That’s $33 Billion each. The real question is whether you can find a worse “executive leadership team.” Douchebag.
Yeah. “Unconventional.” One might be willing to believe that if they didn’t actually know the history of the American auto industry and know that “Mr. Lutz” among other things is basically synonymous with “SUV.”
You made quite a successful career out of lies, spin, and propaganda. I guess we shouldn’t expect anything different now.
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