General Motors has reintroduced the position of President and Chief Operating Officer with the naming of Fritz Henderson to the post by Rick Wagoner. Henderson's move up from Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer sees Ray Young moving from group VP of finance to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, filling the vacuum left by Henderson's departure. Group Vice President of Global Powertrain and Global Quality, Thomas G. Stephens, also makes the move to Executive Vice President. The new appointees will work closely with Rick Wagoner and product guy Bob Lutz to keep the GM ship on course. Henderson will be drawing on his past experience in a variety of roles at GM. Regional presidents will report to Henderson, who will confer with Rick Wagoner. For now, it's about as exciting as watching a chess match, but GM's moving these people into their new roles with an eye on the company's trajectory out of the doldrums. The newly reinstated President and COO will be looked to as an integral part of the machinery that keeps pushing GM back from the brink.
[Source: Auto News - sub req]



Not long after we told you about the likely
Thinking that top executives had perhaps gotten out of touch with what the real world buyer of their cars is experiencing, Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda is sending 250 top executives out to test drive some used cars. He has them driving three-year-old DaimlerChrysler products because he wants them to learn about reliability issues and the experience consumers face a few years down the road of ownership.












