Whitacre, New GM Chairman: "I Don't Know Anything About Cars"

No car experience is necessary to take a top spot at the bankrupt icon of Detroit's automobile industry.

Believe it or not, the newly appointed chairman of GM, Edward Whitacre, Jr., has zero experience with cars -- and he's okay with that. According to Bloomberg:

"I don't know anything about cars," Whitacre, 67, said yesterday in an interview after his appointment. "A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I'm not that old, and I think the business principles are the same."

Business principles may be universal, but it must come as a shock for some to hear that a key figure in charge of building the new GM is vowing to "learn about cars." GM and Detroit have long been criticized for being out of touch with the latest in automobile design, and for failing to anticipate industry trends.

Whitacre, formerly the CEO of AT&T, is certainly a top-notch executive. But his appointment is certain to raise some eyebrows. Besides claiming that they plan to jettison several brands during the bankruptcy process, GM has said little about how the restructured automaker will reinvigorate its R&D and engineering departments.

The AP pointed to some heavy skepticism about Whitacre's appointment. Telecom analyst Victor Schnee of Probe Financial, who followed Whitacre's successes at AT&T. Schnee called Whitacre's appointment "bizarre," and said Whitacre lacked long-term vision GM's future.

Others were more positive:

A bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and record in shaping a "monolithic" AT&T into a diversified enterprise make Whitacre "a good choice," said Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics auto-consulting firm in Birmingham, Michigan.

"He was one of the guys who helped create a new AT&T that wasn't so dependent on land-line phone service," said Hall, a former GM engineer. "There's a parallel with General Motors. GM is not now about just making cars. It's about re-creating itself as a 21st-century car company. They have to have somebody at the top that understands they have to make a new GM."

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Comments

[somewherentexas]

01:33 PM on 06/12/2009

A business is a business. Give the guy a chance. He started as a engineer with Southwestern Bell and worked his way to the top. Nothing was handed to Mr. Whitacre. You have to respect him for that.
I worked for him at Southwestern Bell/SBC/AT&T for many years & he cares about the company & the people that work there. He treats them with the upmost respect. He is tremendously missed at AT&T. He will turn GM around I have no doubt.

[onepotatotwopotato]

10:49 PM on 06/13/2009

Maybe the former C.E.O. of Trabant would have been a better pick!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant#Trabant_and_car_tuning_community

[tsloan]

04:13 PM on 06/11/2009

This is gonna be bad....as taxpayers we should demand more out of our hard-earned money.

[vigorous]

03:42 PM on 06/11/2009

No worries on the Saab front. GM has chosen Koenigsegg, of Sweden, as top bidder in
the Saab sweeps.

Where Koenigsegg makes money on these excellent cars, GM gets paid back.

I fearlessly predict payback.

[RJII]

01:39 PM on 06/11/2009

I know nothing about the car business too. Please hire me. I can be a VP of something.

[5hy56]

01:16 PM on 06/11/2009

1st 100 days - There are 2.9 million more people unemployed in May than there were

unemployed in January. The unemployment rate went from 7.6% to 9.4%.
Since May 2008, we have lost 5.5 million jobs. The biggest losers were:
Manufacturing 1.5 million lost
Finance & Prof Serv 1.5 million lost
Construction 1.1 million lost
Retail & Leisure 1.3 million lost

one of my new favorite finance websites: href=".http://kl.am/tsc ">Econ & Finance Articles Updated Daily

Having said that, unless we rethink the way we use our wealth, this world is doomed.

al-Waleed bin Talal, however he came by his wealth is in a position to make a difference.

Instead he chooses conspicuous self-consumption.

[ernieb61]

01:23 PM on 06/11/2009

Yes, this is all Obama's fault, because EVERYONE knows the economy can turn on a dime. There is NO WAY this is just a continuation of the Bush administration.

[pharmmajor]

12:01 PM on 06/11/2009

So, a person who knows nothing about the auto industry is picked to help revitalize a failing auto industry?

... remind me again why so many people think it was a good idea for the federal government to step in and take control of GM.

[ernieb61]

01:24 PM on 06/11/2009

Of course having someone with no knowledge of the auto industry is a bad idea. Look what a wonderful job those who DO have knowledge of the auto industry did! Oh, wait. That's right, I forgot. Those who know about the auto industry drove it into the ground. How can this guy be any worse?

[inorbit]

11:10 AM on 06/11/2009

I don't think the previous GM Chairman knew anything about the car business, either.

So, why not carry on the tradition?

[RoloTomassi]

10:42 AM on 06/11/2009

Jeez, he reminds me of GWB, only smarter...well, maybe not....

But seriously, there is certainly a bright, idea driven mid-to-upper management person who has been in the company a long time, knows the business, and is now seething because a clueless business guy has been brought in to steer a business he doesn't care about deeply or understand. Someone should have been raised up to this position, but such is the mindset of the "business class"; they delusionally believe that at the core it's all the same and they can pass from one industry to the next without knowing a thing about the next world they'll be master of--it's absurd, but it's the way of the American businessman.

Yeah, that's the ticket...but why not, every other aspect of this has been bonkers, so why change course now....

[CoyoteMan]

10:33 AM on 06/11/2009

Whitacre is in good company. GM doesn't know anything about making cars either!
:))

[allworldauto]

08:04 AM on 06/11/2009

That makes me feel real good. All this money and they put someone in that knows nothing!

[DailyElitist]

05:13 AM on 06/11/2009

An industrial engineer and competent businessman alien to the Detroit culture is precisely who I would have chosen for this position.

[aluxeterna]

09:53 AM on 06/11/2009

yeah, this doesn't sound like that bad of a deal to me either. new blood is precisely what's going to move the dinosaurs into the future.

[mamacat]

03:37 AM on 06/11/2009

After what the "experts" have done to General Motors, could this fellow really be any worse? If he has some business experience and a little bit of common sense, he might just do fine.

[Rmath]

02:32 AM on 06/11/2009

His predecessor apparently didn't know much about cars either..

[Sebastian Donner]

01:37 AM on 06/11/2009

If they want to reinvent themselves, they should do complete redesigns and become "Green Motors." They should make a line of green cars, from economy to luxury, and stick just with that.

They should do a small line and focus on making it really good. There's nothing wrong with a back to basics approach.

Good cars for good money that are all green.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

12:12 AM on 06/11/2009

I suppose Obama thinks he can appoint surgeons who know nothing about medicine. No doubt the patient is doomed with this appointment and his insistance free trade imports are the answer.