Wagoner has been CEO for 9 years and Lutz has been Car Guy for 6.

Let’s talk about Lutz first… Lutz was in place in 2004 when the Gen 2 Prius was introduced and he was noisily (obnoxiously) dismissive of it (he’s stil obnoxious about this stuff).

Years later, we find that Lutz has a hissy fit… not over the success of the Prius 2, a car that is making money for their chief rival but over the introduction of the Tesla, a boutique vehicle from nobodies which bodes NO THREAT to GM… In ’07, the Volt concept is introduced to some acclaim and GM decides to go for it. Some rewriting of history is occurring and we find that Lutz is reputed to have been a champion of EVs for a long time. Except that “the Car Guy” at GM has never pressed the issue and started a hybrid or EV car project for real.

But Lutz was able to get the Camaro underway… kinda, sorta. It’s a late and too thirsty for the market. But it’s a real Car Guy’s car, isn’t it? Of course, we ask, why isn’t a Camaro on the market today? Well, GM killed it in about ’03. Why? POOR SALES. No one wanted a thirsty, sporty coupe with near-useless back seat. But Lutz is bringing exactly that back.

Lutz is a loser. He has a good track record for building the wrong cars and ignoring the right ones. He has been digging GM’s hole deeper.

Wagoner’s been at the helm of GM since ’99, IIRC. That’s long enough to turn this ship around. Yet, I read one of his recent messages to the investors and most of the things on his list of strategies are simply things that well-run company should be doing. Why wasn’t GM doing them?

Now, interestingly enough (and I wish I could find the link), Wagoner made some public statements early in this millenium about GM’s direction… and that was a huge commitment to and focus on big vehicles. Now, sure, they make money. But GM is also heavily into the Chinese market and forecasting huge gains there, along with everyone else. What will that do to gas prices? If you guessed, “raise them dramaticaly,” give yourself a gold star.

Why didn’t Wagoner ever put 2 and 2 together and get 4? The head of the company is supposed to be good at the long-term strategy and Wagoner, clearly, is doing a poor job of strategy.

Yes, Wagoner and Lutz inherited a bad situation but they’ve both been working overtime to make it worse. They have to go.

First of all GM is not in the position it’s in because of Wagoner and Lutz. They inherited a multitude of problems from decades of management neglect and IMHO are pragmatically trying to rectify them not by juggling the balance sheet and Inc. statement , but by aggressively restructuring the business model. They keep their jobs because they have the backing of the BOD, not because they put on a good show. I respectfully disagree with your opinion that they have very little to offer. No other car company has shown this dramatic a change in their product lineup with the last 3 successive car of the year awards.

With the sale of Hummer and the suspension of development of large scale SUVs and trucks, I disagree with your assertion that GM is hoping to get back in that business soon. The new GM is leaner and meaner and will become even more so over time. This combined with an ever improving model lineup and the jettisoning of LT retiree health care obs. are all part a a business model that will allow GM to be profitable in ways they never thought possible.

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