The good men and women at General Motors are sick and tired of carrying the Government Motors label. In a recent interview with the Detroit Free Press, GM CEO and Chairman Ed Whitacre had the following to say about the moniker:

“We’re tired of being called Government Motors by a lot of people. We know that’s keeping some people from buying our vehicles. Nobody at GM likes that label. Everybody is embarrassed that all this happened. We are on a mission to prove that it was a great thing to bail it out. We’re going to go as fast as we can go.”

GM’s New Motto: Be The Best

Whitacre also told the Freep that GM’s new corporate mantra – “Design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles” – came from Vice Chairman Tom Stephens:

“About 8 or 9 months ago, I think the words for that really came from Tom Stephens. I said Tom, ‘What are we trying to do here?’ And he said, ‘well, we’re trying to design, build and sell the world’s best vehicles.’ I said ‘I like that,’ so that’s where it came from. He gets the credit for that.”

On New Marketing Chief Joel Ewanick

Whitacre also said that he’s very fond of GM’s new vice president of marketing Joel Ewanick, calling him “a real talent.” Ewanick left Nissan for The General and has just moved his family across the country to the Detroit area.

[Source: Freep]