GM CFO Makes Reuters Correspondent Want To Throw Up

by Bertel Schmitt

July 19th, 2012 12:07 PM

gm cfo makes reuters correspondent want to throw up

Former Wall Street banker turned GM CFO Dan Ammann put the fear of a higher being into Reuters’ Detroit correspondent Ben Klayman. To drive home the point that bean counters can be car guys too, Ammann raced his gray-metallic Corvette Z06 around GM’s Michigan test track – with a nauseated Klayman in the passenger’s seat.

“I almost threw up afterwards,” recounts Klayman. Klayman’s feature story about the CFO who wants it understood that he’s not one of the gray-suited “bean counters” who once dominated, and nearly destroyed, General Motors, is required reading.

And as long as he won’t throw up in the car, no harm done.

#Ammann #BertelSchmitt #GM #Klayman #Reuters

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11 of 22 comments

El scotto on Jul 19, 2012

They should get all GM executive above a certain rank high speed certified. Stick their butts in the car they're backing and have them drive the competition too. Yeah, some real world honesty for the corner office guys/gals. Does GM still have a parking garage where the executives cars are gassed, washed, repaired as needed?

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Eyeflyistheeye on Jul 19, 2012

Ammann could have gotten the same outcome of unstoppable nausea from Klaymann if he would have locked him in a 2013 Malibu for ten minutes. Wocka, wocka, wocka!

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- 28-Cars-Later on Jul 19, 2012
  
  +1
  
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Icemilkcoffee on Jul 19, 2012

I would be more impressed if he had worked on his own car as well as driving it.

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- El scotto on Jul 19, 2012
  
  I'm breaking serious Man Law here. I can change my oil and replace my brake pads and that's about it; oh and an air filter. I don't really enjoy doing oil changes or brakes. My mechanic does those for a living, along with other auto repairs. He's faster at them than I am and has the accrued knowledge of thousands of brake jobs and oil changes.
  
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- Derek Kreindler on Jul 19, 2012
  
  @el scotto This man code thing about working on your own car is absurd. Who cares? I drained an abscess once and it went fine, that doesn't mean I'll start doing my own surgery.
  
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NotFast on Jul 19, 2012

Did all you rock throwers notice the seats in the pic above aren't stock? Looks like Sparco race seats.

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- CJinSD on Jul 19, 2012
  
  Seats that aren't good enough for GM's CFO shouldn't be good enough for the customers, especially not in GM's flagship product.
  
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- NormSV650 on Jul 19, 2012
  
  @CJinSD CJ has never been on a race track before. High speed autocross? Not talking onramp lateral loads either. If you have then you would understand the asset of having backside contact with the car's movements through an aftermarket seat.
  
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- Ry_Trapp0 on Jul 19, 2012
  
  @Norm - tell me, norm, why is it that you can get perfectly trackable recaros in a 3.7l ford mustang, but you can't get them in a ZR1 corvette? that is the point entirely. while the watered down recaros in the mustang aren't as good as what you can get from the aftermarket, they are certainly track worthy and MUCH better than the garbage in the corvette.
  
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- CJinSD on Jul 19, 2012
  
  @CJinSD I've been around Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow and Infineon in just the last year. The original equipment seats in various BMWs, Hondas, Mazdas, and Porsches have been up to the task. Forgot one: The seat in an old PT Cruiser was also supportive enough around Buttonwillow for the capabilities of the car. It probably wouldn't have been an improvement on the Corvette seat, but then a retro econobox isn't a powerful sports car.
  
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