TOP 100 RACING SITES
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| FIA chief Mosley's son found dead in London home A son of world auto racing boss Max Mosley has been found dead in his London home, police and the racing federation said Wednesday. ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Toyota to stop hosting Japanese GP The global economic crisis dealt a fresh blow to Formula One racing as Toyota Motor pulled out of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its Fuji Speedway circuit from next year. foxsports.com.au |
Win and you're in? Richmond will decide final spots in Chase For the second consecutive season, Kyle Busch has a shot to lead the Sprint Cup "regular season" in victories. But a Saturday ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
GM fires CEO Henderson. The board wants an outsider. The new General Motors Board has struck. CEO Fritz Henderson is out after six months on the job. Now the commentariat will start questioning whether it’s a fair decision. And really, it wasn’t. He had just three months to prove to the new board, which is led by former AT&T Chairman Ed Whitacre and a group of directors appointed mostly by the U.S. Treasury, that he’s the guy. In his three months since the board took over, he did stabilize market share and reduced losses significantly. But this is one of those cases where deserve has got nothing to do with it. Henderson had to post lightning quick results to show a new board of outsiders—most of whom have a low opinion of GM—that a 25-year veteran of the company could change it quickly. He also suffers from the fact that he’s a legacy executive. The new board inherited Henderson. He’s not their guy. If they interview and select a new CEO, then the board will want to make sure that person succeeds. If he or she does, they’d look smart for making the hire, points out Michael Robinet, a vice president of auto research firm CSM Worldwide. So why was he ousted? As my new colleagues and I wrote on Bloomberg, he failed his 100-day test. One GM executive told me that the company beat every metric in its viability plan, which was approved by Treasury. But Whitacre has said in the past that the viability plan doesn’t go fast enough. He wanted more. Whitacre also wanted to see proof that Henderson could change the culture. You'd have to give him a year to see those results. Other GM executives have told me that GM directors Daniel Akerson and David Bonderman—both from private equity—and former Wall Street analyst Steve Girsky have been very tough on Henderson and aggressive with their questioning, especially the former two. They were a vocal minority who helped move the board toward an outsider. They needed to broom Henderson to bring one in. Then there was Opel. One long-time GM executive told me that Henderson wanted to sell GM’s long-suffering Opel unit in Europe. He thought Opel’s cash drain and problems will be too much of a distraction for GM at a time when it is trying to repair the U.S. business and mind its growing overseas operations. But the board, led by Girsky, Bonderman and Ackerman, wanted to keep it. They figured that selling it off would leave GM weak in a big market like Europe. Plus, the board was dismayed that Henderson didn’t get more than the $750 million that parts maker Magna was going to pay for a majority stake in Opel. The disagreement cost Henderson plenty of political capital. It didn’t help that Henderson didn’t have a big juicy sound bite of good news, like say, Ford’s surprise $1 billion profit, to make him and the new board look smart. All he could say was that GM was making progress. Now-deposed GM CEO Rick Wagoner always talked about progress, but rarely victories. Henderson’s early results looked like a nicer version of the same old. The bottom line: GM’s board decided that they simply wanted someone else, an outsider like Ford’s Alan Mulally to energize insiders and show America that there really is a new GM. They also want someone who will change the culture and set up a tougher system of accountability, says one GM executive briefed on the board’s thinking. The board has defintely accomplished one thing that Henderson never could have done. By firing him, they are obliterating the old GM culture that was built by a succession of executives who came from the automaker's New York Treasury Office. Jack Smith, Wagoner, Henderson and many other top executives were all groomed there. It built the company's finance-driven culture. Sweeping it out needed to happen. But that's only half the battle. Now the board has to find someone with leadership, vision, tactical smarts and a knack for reaching consumers. The board will have two big challenges. First, the staff is demoralized now that the second CEO in six months has been canned. Sources say even Bob Lutz, the 77-year-old executive who has lived through countless auto company crises, is dejected over Henderson’s firing. Second, the board will have to find someone who wants the job and is qualified to do it. So you have a company that was just getting some stability get hit with more uncertainty. Then you’ll need to find a high-caliber executive who is willing to take on a turnaround job at a company that doesn’t yet have stock and options and can't pay multi-million dollar salaries thanks to the government's 60% ownership stake. Well, Chairman and interim CEO Ed Whitacre has the big job. Let’s see results. Is 100 days reasonable? rss.businessweek.com |
Detroit Auto Show: Nissan's green strategy is to go to zero If there a lesson that the auto industry has learned about selling hybrid-electric cars, it’s that it’s tough to take on Toyota. The Japanese giant sold almost 12,000 copies of the Prius in December next to about 1,600 for Honda’s Insight, which is also a dedicated hybrid. Other companies are taking notice. In November, General Motors shelved plans to build a Prius fighter for its Chevrolet division that would have targeted 50 miles per gallon, preferring to focus on its Chevrolet Volt electric car. Similarly, Nissan is looking at its Leaf electric car as its best green play. The company has a hybrid Altima and will launch a gasoline-electric version of its Infiniti M sedan in March 2011. But the company’s biggest plan is for the Leaf, said Carlos Tavares, executive vice president for Nissan Motor Co, during an interview at the Detroit auto show. “Only the leader wins,” Tavares said. “We know who has taken the leadership position, it’s Toyota. That’s why we decided to go to the ultimate goal of zero emissions.” Nissan figures it can establish a lead in electric vehicles with its Leaf EV, which goes on sale in December. Tavares said Nissan has already had 35,000 people express interest in the car. That is a good indicator that they can sell the car successfully, he said. But Nissan will have a better idea once they start taking deposits this spring. The company’s aspirations are huge. Nissan’s plant in Smyrna can build up to 150,000 of the Leaf when it starts production in late 2012. The first car will come from a plant in Japan. Tavares said it will be competitively priced with other compact cars. But selling 150,000 cars will be tough. The car can go 100 miles on a charge, which will limit its appeal. To give you an idea, Nissan sold fewer than 10,000 Altima hybrids last year and Toyota sold 140,000 Priuses. Nissan is taking a different road, but selling all that the company produce won’t be an easy ride. rss.businessweek.com |