GM Chairman Ed Whitacre: Fitting In Already

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

GM’s government-appointed Chairman of the Board was out and about last night, speechifying at Texas Lutheran University. Ed Whitacre used the occasion to plea for the “modification” of Pay Czar Kenneth’s Feinberg’s pay caps. To recap the caps, the nationalized automaker’s top 25 executives took a 31 percent hair cut since joining the federal payroll. Aside from CEO Fritz “Opel Eyes” Henderson, that is, who had his cash compensation trimmed by just 25 percent (from $1.26 million to a paltry $950,000). Leaving only one other unnamed GM executive—cough, transparency, cough—who will “earn” more than $500,000 cash money for 2009. ‘Cause $500,000’s the new limit. And Ed’s not happy about that. “To find top-level people where you need them, that’s a more difficult thing to do at that salary level,” Whitacre said. “I don’t think [the caps] will be lifted, but hopefully they’ll be modified.” Now there’s a man who knows the value of politics. As for the value of GM stock, same deal. Or, in this case, no deal.

Whitacre shot down his own not-so-highly-paid executives’ promises of a 2010 GM stock offering—the planned method for returning U.S. taxpayer’s $52 billion (plus) investment in GM. “It depends on how quickly we become profitable. I think we can see that on the horizon, but I can’t promise a date.”

Now that’s what I call GM speak! Lots of promises, no firm targets and zero accountability. Looks like Ed’s fitting right in.

Oh, and don’t worry about that dropped IPO. Ed’s gonna maybe kinda sorta ensure that GM makes an unspecified payment to the feds at some unspecified date (ahead of the 2010 mid-term elections, presumably). “It’s conceivable we could pay back some of the loans before the end of the year,” he kinda sorta maybe promised.

Now that’s what I call GM speak! Lots of promises, no firm targets and zero accountability. Looks like Ed’s fitting right in.

Oh, and don’t worry about that cultural change thing. Whitacre said GM isn’t “rushing” to hire outside executives. “GM has made several inside changes recently,” the Detroit News paraphrases, “and the move to bring in new blood will be meted out slowly, he said, without giving timing.”

Now that’s what I call GM speak! Lots of promises, no firm targets and zero accountability. Looks like Ed’s fitting right in.

Oh, and don’t worry about all that talk about increasing market share. Despite his insistence upon protecting GM’s piece of the American new car sales pie, Ed says GM hasn’t set a specific market share goal and doesn’t want to add significantly to incentives. “We are just looking at ways to sell more vehicles, and it’s a very competitive market. We need to strike a balance.

Now that’s what I call GM speak! Lots of promises, no firm targets and zero accountability. Looks like Ed’s fitting right in.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Steven02 Steven02 on Nov 11, 2009

    Whitacre has been there 5 months. He has done great things at other companies. Maybe giving him more time to see if it works out would be better than just posting sensationalism. It will take a good amount of time for him to fix what is wrong at GM. 5 months isn't long enough.

  • Dilbert Dilbert on Nov 11, 2009

    5 months is long enough to set some general goals and coming up with a plan. He has no goals and seems to be dodging his responsibility.

  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
  • Dukeisduke I've been waiting to see if they were going to do something special for the 60th Anniversary. I was four years old when the Mustang was introduced. I can remember that one of our neighbors bought a '65 coupe (they were all titled as '65 models, even the '64-1/2 cars), and it's the first one I can remember seeing. In the '90s I knew an older gentleman that owned a '64-1/2 model coupe with the 260 V8.
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