DETROIT, Michigan - General Motors shook up its top management tanks Monday with chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner taking over leadership of the auto giant's North American operations.
The shakeup will move vice chairman Bob Lutz to a new role in "leading GM's global product development activities," while current GM North America chief Gary Cowger will focus on global manufacturing and labor issues labor.
Lutz and Cowger will relinquish their current roles at GM North America, and Wagoner will assume leadership of GMNA, while retaining his current positions.
"Given the challenges we face in North America, it makes sense for me to assume control of GMNA's day-to-day operations and shorten the lines of communication and decision-making," Wagoner said in a statement.
"At the same time, as we look at our global business, it's clear that the two areas most critical to our future success are achieving excellence in every product we develop, and doing it with the most competitive manufacturing system. And Bob and Gary are our two executives most experienced and skilled in these key areas."
The world's largest automaker, which has been steadily losing market share in the US market, recently jolted financial markets with a warning about steep losses in the first quarter and sharply weaker-than-expected results for 2005.
04/04/2005 14:39 GMT