Weekend Head Scratcher: The Worst Car Executive Of All Times?

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

The world of business all has their fair share of career bullshitters, and the car industry is no different. So this week’s Weekend Head Scratcher is this: Who do you think was the worst car executive ever?

Now note my wording “car executive”. This isn’t about CEO’s. Bullshitters can be found everywhere. Now before you all pile of Rick Wagoner, may I throw a couple of other suggestions out there? Roger B Smith. A guy who tried to modernize GM and ended up retarding it. “Maximum” Bob Lutz. A guy who said that making diesels 50 state compliant couldn’t be done without the use of Urea. Until VW did it without using urea. Juergen Schrempp (remember him?) The guy who orchestrated a $36 billion “Merger of equals” (that was a hoot in itself) and left it for the next guy to undo. So come on people. Who’s the worst car executive? As always, I want to hear a reasoned argument and not just random venom. This isn’t YouTube.

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Nick Nick on Oct 24, 2010

    Anyone German.

  • Nevets248 Nevets248 on Oct 25, 2010

    Lynn Meyers-Pontiac-under her "leadership" the downward spiral of mediocrity was accelerated. Karen Fisher-Olds-one of 'moz'-Zarella's whiz kids. Bob Kraut-Pontiac-singlehandedly destroyed the lauch of the 2004 GTO.

  • Kristjan Ambroz Kristjan Ambroz on Oct 25, 2010

    I definitely second Jose Ignacio Lopez - his cost cutting practically did Opel in - it never recovered from his efforts. On top of that I would mention Curtice at GM, who managed to pervert Sloane's sound system of management and led to all the following GM top management candidates, as well as to the general decontenting and engineering stagnation at the company (not that the engineers themselves were at all bad). In this context one can also blame De Lorean and Bunkie Knudsen for the GTO - the car that convincingly demonstrated to the Detroit management that more money could be made in the short run with appearance than with genuine progress. This effectively left the door on several segments open to the Asian import brands - profits were slim there so the only solutions considered were to stay away or put together a poorly thought out and even more poorly executed product, which had no chance of competing in the long run. The person at GM who decided that division executives have to drive their own products also deserves an honorable mention - this more than anything else destroyed the brand differentiation - the Chevy top dogs certainly did not want their Caprice's to lag much behind a contemporary Caddy.

  • Commando Commando on Oct 26, 2010

    Tie between Roger Smith and Henry Ford. With Malcom Bricklin off the chart....

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