Autoblog

It's far too early to come up with suitable jokes to make, so we'll just give you the facts. According to Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Police are investigating a case of corporate eavesdropping in the form of a baby monitor that was found in the hotel room of Porsche CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking. Wiedeking was in Wolfsburg, Germany visiting Volkswagen headquarters for a board meeting when a security firm found the monitor behind a sofa in the CEO's room. An investigation is underway, however, it deserves noting that the alleged spying took place in November of last year and that Der Spiegel isn't citing any specific sources for their story.

[Source: Forbes]

Tom Purves, Chairman of BMW North America, is getting a new desk -- one that is adorned with a silver Flying Lady. As of July 1, Purves will take over as the CEO of BMW's Rolls-Royce brand in Goodwood, England. Replacing Tom Purves as the CEO of BMW's North American Unit will be Jim O'Donnell, who has occupied the No. 2 seat since the beginning of this month.

Purves is no stranger to Rolls-Royce. He spent the first 17 years of his career there occupying several different management positions. The timing for his departure from BMW is interesting, though. BMW has a mandatory retirement age of 60. Coincidentally, that just happens to be the age Purves will celebrate on his birthday this November. Rolls-Royce, one of the most prestigious automakers in the world, doesn't have a mandatory retirement age.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]

Geoff Polites, who's stewardship of Land Rover and Jaguar improved the health of both properties, has succumbed after a long illness. Polites led Jaguar and Land Rover back to collective profitability, and kept a steady hand on the helm during the upheaval surrounding the sale to Tata a month ago. While rumors swirled and pundits punned, it was Polites leadership that kept Jaguar and Land Rover on an even keel, with heads down and concentrating, instead of freaking out. Polites spent 40 years in the automotive business, and rose to CEO at Jaguar Land Rover in 2005. Both brands have strong, stylish product portfolios with name cachet, and David Smith, CFO of Jaguar Land Rover will step in as acting CEO for now. Press release after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

You'd be smiling, too...

According to emerging reports, Luca De Meo is being appointed as the new chief executive of Alfa Romeo, succeeding Antonio Baravalle who recently announced his departure.

De Meo is credited with the recent rejuvenation of the Fiat brand, overseeing the introduction of the enormously successful Grande Punto, followed by the new Bravo and most recently the hot new 500 retro-hatch. The industry was shocked when De Meo stepped down as Fiat brand CEO just a few months ago to assume a new position in the parent company as Chief Marketing Officer for the entire Fiat Group. De Meo will be retaining the marketing position in addition to his new responsibilities as head of Alfa Romeo, while keeping his third post as head of the Abarth division, which he launched during his tenure as Fiat brand CEO.

With the new appointment, it becomes all the more clear that Luca De Meo is being groomed to take over from Fiat Group chief Sergio Marchionne, whom he succeeded as Fiat brand CEO and remains the only one with more responsibilities in the Fiat empire than De Meo (with the possible exception of his namesake Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari, chairman of the Fiat Group and head of industrial alliance Confindustria).

As Marchionne pointed out, the duality of De Meo's positions put him "in the ideal position" to spearhead Alfa Romeo's imminent return to the North American market.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

Tesla Motors has been operating with an interim CEO since last August when its founder, Martin Eberhard, stepped down as head of the company. Today the start up that promises to herald in a new era of EV motoring (if it can stay on schedule) announced the appointment of a permanent replacement. Ze'ev Drori will now be at the helm of Tesla Motors as it tries to guide the Tesla Roadster through the production process. Drori has a history of turning around small companies, having founded a computer chip company called Monolithic Memories and later running Clifford Electronics, an automobile security system company, until it was bought by Allstate Insurance in 1999.

We've always wondered whether that's been the plan for Tesla Motors all along: get the all-electric Tesla Roadster to market, build the brand and sell the technology to the major automaker with the highest bid. Bringing on a guy like Drori lends some credibility to that hypothesis, though it's just as likely Tesla plans to remain independent as it builds an entire lineup of all-electric vehicles in the coming years.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

According to UK-based media service Headline Auto, one of the hot rumors flying around the Auto Messe in Frankfurt earlier this morning was that China Automobile, the German importer for Chinese automaker Shuanghuan, was going to get booted out of the exhibit hall. The controversy stems from some bad blood brewing between Shuanghuan and the mainstream manufacturers whose designs it blatantly, unashamedly copies. On display in Frankfurt are the Shuanghuan UFO and CEO SUVs. UFO is a Toyota RAV4 clone, and CEO is a 95% copy of the BMW X5. (We say 95% because Shuanghuan apparently elected to copycat Mercedes-Benz for the CEO's front end design.)

In the end, China Automobile Deutschland got to stay at the show, but Shuanghuan still faces potential trouble ahead, as BMW is considering legal action against the company.

[Source: Headline Auto]

You might recall a post last week regarding a little tiff between Smart and Shuanghuan, the purveyors of the Noble, a dead ringer for the German firm's fortwo. That vehicle, along with an SUV dubbed the CEO, will be gracing the stand of the Chinese automaker next month in Frankfurt, and it looks as though BMW may be considering legal action as well.

The CEO has a distinctly last-gen. X5 feel to it, particularly when viewed in profile and from the rear. According to Automotive News' sister publication, Automobilwoche, BMW is considering legal action if and when the CEO is unveiled, and may attempt to halt distribution of the SUV in Europe.

The IAA, the governing body for next month's show, has regulations in place that would require copyright violators to remove its products, and its entire exhibition space, from the show floor if a court-imposed injunction is filed.

We're hoping to be on hand next month if an international incident does, in fact, takes place.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

News of Tesla's co-founder and CEO Martin Eberhard stepping down has been making the rounds in both automotive and tech circles all morning. The gist is that Eberhard will become Tesla's President of Technology so he can stay hands on with the all-electric Tesla Roadster's development, while a man by the name of Michael Marks, formers CEO of a company called Flextronics and one of Tesla's investors, will become interim CEO while a permanent replacement for Eberhard is found.

From the reports we've been reading, it makes it sound like Tesla's in turmoil over this management shakeup, with some outlets claiming the executive shuffle will cause additional multi-month delays in the first deliveries of the Tesla Roadster to customers. We have no reason to believe that is the case, and thanks to Sam Abuelsamid over at AutoblogGreen who was able to speak with someone at the company, it appears that Eberhard had been planning to step down for some time, as the day-to-day operation of running a big company was keeping him away from the Tesla Roadster's development. Tesla's Vice President of Marking Darryl Siry told ABG the move is much like what happened at Google when founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin brought in Eric Schmidt to run the show so they could focus on other projects. So it appears that despite some reports you may read, Tesla is not in turmoil and Eberhard's relocation within the company is just one more step on the company's roadmap to producing what promises to be a landmark vehicle.

[Source: AutoblogGreen, Tesla]

Chrysler's new Chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli introduced himself at a press conference this morning as his new No. 2 Tom LaSorda stood by his side (more like directly behind him). LaSorda, who until this past weekend was CEO himself, is staying on the team, though his own No. 2, COO Eric Ridenour, has decided to leave the company after 23 years of service.

Our man on the scene, Chris Shunk, reported there was a lot of talk about this being the "right team" and the "right time", though LaSorda, who helped devised and launch Chrysler's current turnaround plan, admitted that he told Cerberus management they should hire someone new if they thought that person could do a better job with the company than he could. Apparently they took him up on his offer.

That's why we find this picture so appropriate, with LaSorda acting as Chief Executive Wallflower to Nardelli's new Big Boss Man role. Of course, we know LaSorda's role will still be important, as both the UAW and CAW have been working with him during the ongoing contract talks that are crucial to the company's turnaround.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

Immediately following the sale of Chrysler to Cerberus, people began speculating on what role former Chrysler exec Wolfgang Bernhard would take up in the newly minted Chrysler Corp. Even we jumped on the bandwagon and suggested Bernhard, who had been hired on by Cerberus to advise the sale, would be a likely replacement for Tom LaSorda if the automaker's current CEO couldn't turn around the company's fortune. The Wall Street Journal is reporting, however, that Bernhard will act as a high-level advisor and report directly to Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg.

The interesting thing is that Bernhard has been present at nearly every meeting since the acquisition was announced. He currently has an office on the executive floor of Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters and has been seen making the rounds, even stopping by the design studio to point out what he likes and dislikes in future designs.

Cerberus makes it clear, however, that Bernhard is not part of the Chrysler executive team, which begs the question, why is he there? It seems to us that Bernhard's considerable talent in having an eye for good product and dealing with the unions will be extremely valuable to LaSorda and his team while they attempt to bring Chrysler back to profitability. At the same time, Bernhard's role also comes off as a strategy by Cerberus to keep the Chrysler execs, specifically LaSorda, focused in their task. Should they fail, Bernhard won't have to move his desk far to take over the CEO role. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, and the two execs will form a relationship similar to the one used effectively by GM CEO Rick Wagoner and his product man, Bob Lutz.

[Source: Wall Street Journal via Motor Authority]