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Personalities
With Chrysler 'Fixed', Francois Moves On To Fiat
By Dale Buss August 1, 2011If Olivier Francois needs some inspiration as he takes on new responsibilities as global chief of the Fiat brand, he need only look at what he already has been able to check off his to-do list for the last couple of years: 1) As chief marketing officer of a dynamic global automotive enterprise, keep up with a charismatic, peripatetic, whirlwind of a CEO who’s likely to surprise you every day; 2) Lift a troubled but proud niche Italian automotive brand to new stability as CEO while simultaneously playing a crucial role in reviving an iconic American carmaker; 3) Make more
Stempel Was Last Of GM Car Guy CEOs
By Dale Buss May 10, 2011Robert Stempel died last weekend in Florida, leaving in Detroit a legacy as a colorful but star-crossed CEO who was denied the opportunity to fully apply his engineering credentials to fix the problem of General Motors' bland and outdated product line in the Nineties. At least Stempel lived to see the fledgling realization of his dream of marketplace acceptance of all-electric vehicles, a cause which occupied much of his post-GM career. more
Nissan Picks First Non-Japanese to Head R&D
By Michelle Krebs February 17, 2011Nissan has selected Carla Bailo to head research and development for its Americas operations. She is the first woman and the first non-Japanese executive to hold the post. Bailo's new title officially is senior vice president, Research & Development-Nissan Americas, effective April 1. She succeeds Motohiro Matsumura, currently president, Nissan Technical Center North America. Matsumura will return to Nissan headquarters in Japan for a new key assignment to be announced in the future. more
EV Charger Company Coulomb Appoints New CEO
By John O'Dell February 9, 2011Coulomb Technologies, an increasingly important player in the growing EV charger market, has named longtime digital networking executive Pasquale "Pat" Romano as its new chief executive and president, replacing co-founder Richard Lowenthal. Lowenthal, who helped start the California-based company in 2007, is transitioning into the post of chief technical officer and head of Coulomb's government affairs office as the company makes a transition of its own from entrepreneurial start-up into the growth and marketing development stages. more
CEO Akerson Shuffles Executives to Put Own Stamp on GM
By Dale Buss January 21, 2011Not content to settle for slight progress when he's confident that things could be improving robustly, General Motors CEO Dan Akerson is moving more and bigger pieces around on his executive chessboard. And Akerson hopes that the results of a handful of moves announced this week will be to accelerate GM's product-development function, restock its thinning pipeline of new vehicles more quickly, light a fire under the company's technology prowess, and further globalize the company's operations at a time of intensifying worldwide integration within the industry's biggest players. "He's like a lot of people who have looked at the more
Prius Could Be Built in U.S. -- Someday
By Michelle Krebs January 11, 2011Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda attended his first-ever Detroit auto show - his first U.S auto show, for that matter - because he wanted to personally unveil the new variant of the Prius hybrid and announce the establishment of a safety research center in Michigan. Toyoda said hinted that the automaker would at some point resurrect its plan to build the Prius in the United States when sales grow. more
Think Taps Former GM-Turnaround Advisor for Operations
By Michelle Krebs January 6, 2011By Danny King Think tapped William Nowicke, a former executive with both Chrysler and General Motors turnaround advisory firm AlixPartners, to help run operations for the Norway-based electric vehicle maker as it builds out its U.S. and European operations and sets up its retail network. Nowicke, whose title will be vice president of operations, will help the company expand production in both the U.S. and Europe while working with Think partner Itochu at building out Japan operations. He will split time between the U.S. and Think's Oslo headquarters. more
VW Extends CEO Winterkorn's Contract
By Michelle Krebs January 4, 2011Volkswagen has extended the contract of CEO Martin Winterkorn, one of AutoObserver's newsmakers of 2010, for another five years, in order to complete the merger with Porsche. Winterkorn became CEO in early 2007; his contract was to expire at the end of this year. His new contract runs through year-end 2016. The contract extension is seen as a vote of confidence by VW's board that Winterkorn has the automaker on the right track. Winterkorn has boldly embraced his company's full intention to become the global top dog in sales by 2018. He backed that up by building VW's first more
Ewanick Leaps into Role of First-Ever GM Global Marketing Czar
By Dale Buss December 20, 2010Joel Ewanick last week was named the first-ever global marketing czar for General Motors Co. He vowed to focus on empowering GM's brands around the world each to play to their regional strengths rather than take what he called a top-down, "cookie-cutter approach." "It's easy to 'peanut-butter' a marketing idea around the world: take a big idea and spread it everywhere," Ewanick told AutoObserver.com in an interview the same day it was announced he would be GM's global chief marketing officer. "We're not looking for easy solutions, but hard solutions - we're looking for the character of a Chevrolet, more