Bonus Blogger-on-Auto Exec Footage

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

A large part of TTAC’s mission is pulling aside the curtain on the industry, exposing the humans behind the cars that make up our everyday lives. Automobiles have always reflected something of the individuals and cultures that created them, so it’s fascinating to see the different personalities that go into running the world’s automakers. Still, as paid executives, their performances are usually polished to a high sheen; the folks behind you favorite car blogs on the other hand, not so much. The interplay between the two is often as revealing as it is entertaining. Can’t get enough? The complete session is available at joelfeder.com.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Tedward Tedward on Jan 16, 2010

    I enjoyed that, just watched the full set of videos and I didn't, at first blush, come away with a "yeah right" reaction.

  • Jpcavanaugh Jpcavanaugh on Jan 16, 2010

    My initial impression is the Ruess is a good guy and wants to turn out cars that people can be proud of. It helps to start out as a product guy. I think that if a guy like this is put into a structure or system that values quality and is very product-focused, some good things can happen. I want to assume that he has some capability in his current job (not always a given, based on GM's past promotional and management practices). But a good attitude and a heart in the right place doesn't automatically translate into top flight vehicles. Though I have not been much of a GM fan in the past, I want to be open to their newest efforts. I hope that we get to a place where there is enough new blood in the company to instill some real change in what GM is and how it does what it does. I am not sure that we are yet at that point, but here from the outside, there seems to be some movement in that direction. Is it enough? The jury is still out.

  • Criminalenterprise Criminalenterprise on Jan 16, 2010

    GM needs a "Colossal Bureaucratic Mistake Board" that can kill any project with veto power over everyone save the CEO and the Board of Directors. The mush-mouthed redundant mess of "manual transmissions separate and/or together with diesel" is a perfect example of the spaghetti throwing in which hoi polloi enthusiasts engage. Carmakers problems are less about what they should produce and more about what they shouldn't. If they weren't tasking half their designers and marketing geniuses with being "fixers" for turds like the Aztek, the Routan, the HHR, the Sebring, the Escalade Hybrid, and on and on, those employees would be dedicating their time to pushing still more of the desirable cars. Once the tool and die money is budgeted it takes a binding UN resolution to stop production on a car that damages the brand irreparably. That needs to stop.

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