Like Father, Like Son: GM's Mark Reuss Named Company President

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Mark Reuss, General Motors’ global product boss and fan of the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette (especially the ZR1), was named GM president on Thursday morning, replacing Dan Ammann in that vacated role.

Ammann left the president’s chair in November to head up GM’s Cruise self-driving car unit, leading GM to discuss scrapping the role of president. Suffice it to say it had second thoughts. In the 54-year-old Reuss, the automaker has a product-focused company lifer whose attention hasn’t strayed since joining back in 1983.

In his new role, Reuss’s responsibilities aren’t exactly turned on their head. He’ll continue in his prior duties as product chief, adding oversight of quality organization to his plate.

In June of 2018, GM named Reuss Executive Vice President and President, Global Product Group and Cadillac, bumping him up the ladder from his former position as executive VP of global product development. The shakeup served to give then-president Ammann greater oversight of Cruise.

Going back further, Reuss created and headed up the GM’s Performance Division starting in 2001, giving birth to the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands’ SS and V badges. Performance remained a focus for the exec even after moving on to new roles. He infamously crashed a Corvette ZR1 in advance of last year’s Detroit Grand Prix after failing to lift off the throttle at a key moment, forcing the exec to issue an official apology.

“Mark’s global operational experience, deep product knowledge and strong leadership will serve us well as we continue to strengthen our current business, take advantage of growth opportunities and further define the future of personal mobility,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra in a statement. “Mark has played a critical role in leading the development of the company’s award-winning vehicles while transitioning his team to prepare for growing electrification and autonomous technologies.”

In accepting the position, Reuss follows in the footsteps of his father, Lloyd, who served as GM president from 1990 to 1992. Boardroom infighting cut his father’s career short, but the younger Reuss wasn’t swayed in his ambitions.

“I am very proud to have spent my entire career at General Motors, and to now take on this new role is truly a great honor,” Reuss said in a statement. “With our current lineup of outstanding cars, trucks and crossovers around the world, I’m looking forward to keeping our momentum going at full speed.”

[Image: General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • JoDa JoDa on Jan 04, 2019

    It seems What the GM Board does is stupid but GM is just preparing for the totalitarian UN Agenda 2030 future.

  • TomLU86 TomLU86 on Jan 05, 2019

    Amen bd2 Competent (not necessarily exciting) cars can be successful. The Camry comes to mind. GM’s crossovers fit that description. But their cars don’t. Mr. Product, why is that? Perhaps I’m a bit hard. Overall GM has been quite successful the past 5 years, thanks to trucks, BOF SUVs, and crossovers. Cars, not so much.

    • Buickman Buickman on Jan 05, 2019

      the cars are fine, it's the marketing 17 Lacrosse, completely new, great car. +25% $, lease nearly doubled. wrong target market, current owners rejected. called Roadmaster, more shifts and overtime right now. see?

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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