The President of General Motors North America, Mark Reuss, will assume his new position as executive vice president Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply chain on January 15. Reuss is confident heading into the new post, which he considers his “dream job”.
“For the first time in my career, I don’t have to go in and reorganize,” the 50-year old told WardsAuto in an interview. “We’ve got the best product development organization in the world, and you see it in the new cars and trucks we’re putting out there.”
In his new position, Reuss will be in charge of developing GM’s product, including vehicle engineering and design, as well as powertrains marketed in over 120 countries, while overseeing a yearly purchasing budget of over $75 billion and managing a supply chain that encompasses thousands of parts suppliers worldwide.
Reuss succeeds Mary Barra in the role, who was recently named GM’s Chief Executive Officer. The work performed by Barra in Reuss’ new position, which includes improving overall product quality and customer satisfaction as well as yielding acclaimed new products such as the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado, Impala and award-winning Cadillac CTS. This foundation should give Reuss room to focus on unifying global platforms and powertrains, such as the upcoming D2XX (which will merge Delta and Theta), E2XX (merging Epsilon and Lambda), and creating Omega.
“I’m accelerating the progress,” said Reuss. “Getting things on the common platforms we’ve designed, getting the right number of speeds in our transmissions, the right powertrains and the right fuel economy.”
Reuss’ remarks came after announcing a $600 million investment for GM’s oldest plant, Flint Assembly, which is just a few blocks from where he began his career with The General at the former Buick City Manufacturing Complex. The investment brings the year to a close, which Reuss says was a “historic” twelve months for GM, with the appointment of Barra and the Federal Government selling its remaining stake in the automaker.
“It’s been a lot of hard work and it’s starting to pay off,” Reuss said. “We’re not done. We’ve got to keep doing it, keep earning it. I feel better about the company than I have in my whole career.”
Comments
Looks like Mr. Reuss can handle a manual. Interesting.
Mark is in a prime spot to give us some really interesting and fun cars.
Thing may be looking good in 4-6 years.
Yes Mark drives a stick.
Now let’s pray that he reverses the decision on Holden, especially on closing engineering. There are obvious challenges in Australian manufacturing (ones I believe should be faced and beaten) but to close a department that took the shit Cruze and made it compete head on with the likes of the Mazda 3, VW Golf and Ford Focus despite typical GM let downs such as a crap interior with cheaper than cheap plastics. The Holden Cruze handles better than its competitors according to Wheels Magazine and that includes platform twins in the Chevrolet Cruze, Volt and Opel Astra, Ampera. Then there is the Holden Commodore, a car that is half the price of its European competitors and handles far better than them. As for a similarly priced rival, the Chrysler 300 never stood a chance. The closest is the Ford Falcon, sadly, Dearborn is just like the rest of GM’s hierarchy and fail to see their best cars are the Australians. Holden engineers even worked on the next Buick Regal according to spy photos that emerged around the same time as the VF Commodore was coming into the public eye.
Hopefully he will merge GMC and Buick together to form one kick-a** luxury brand! They both are luxury brands, so why waste money marketing different brands towards the same buyers?
Merge GMC and Buick together, get a new engine lineup, introduce different variants of current vehicles (ex. Malibu Coupe) and bring Pontiac back in a couple years!
Chevrolet – Mainstream
GMC/Buick – Premium
Pontiac – Performance
Cadillac – Luxury
GMC is not a luxury brand. It’s a low-volume mainstream brand… like Pontiac. Buick is kinda-sorta luxury, but it doesn’t deserve the designation just yet. The best one could do to describe its current market position is premium, right there with Acura, Volvo, and Saab.
Cadillac is all about sport-oriented luxury… GM’s marketing operations like to refer to it as red-blooded luxury — the opposite kind of luxury to Buick’s.
The SLE is a mainstream model. But the SLT-2 and Denali are very luxurious! You can get much more options in the Denali than an LTZ. Chevy doesn’t offer a HUD or a digital gauge cluster. So, I guess in a way it is both (GMC that is). I say by 2017, we should see a large improvement in Buick! All they’ve done so far is re-badge Opel’s (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Now that Chevrolet’s are getting nicer (i.e. Impala), it seems like Buick is just an overpriced Chevy. .
Sorry even a car lover like Mark understand the financial burden and issues involved and will not change Holden from being Chevys with a Holden grill. You might get a Alpha Sedan or even a Coupe based on the Camaro imported from here but production dies with the Zeta down under. Toyota is next. I also think you will find any of the engineers of any great value will be placed into the GM system and will still be used globally. It is similar to the end of the GM performance division as non of the people were let go but they were integrated into the car programs at the starting point and now all the cars even the base cars ride and handle better not just the ones they had to fix to make them performance models.
Why would you merge GMC with Buick? GMC will remain on the Chevy truck frame but will get more different bodies and engine options. They are already starting the move apart like offering AWD and 6.0 engine standard on the GMC where it is an option or not even offered. The Canyon will be telling on how much they will start to move GMC away. Do not expect ultra dramatic differences but do expect to pay more and get more with a GMC much like Buick. The next Terrain will also need to be looked at for differences.
Also before anyone says it Mark will not bring back Pontiac.
I know some do not want to hear this but this is just what is going to happen. You can run a company on only so much heart but you also have to pay the bills with you head. $75 Billion does not go as far as it used to.
I’ve already said why! They are both luxury brands and it’s a waste of money to market different brands that stand for the same thing (luxury) towards the same buyers! Just because one is standard does not mean that they are moving apart (especially when AWD is optional and the 6.0L is standard on both 2500’s). Differentiating the brands mean different vehicles! The Equinox and Terrain are both good examples (although the interiors are quite the same besides the air vents and dash light colors). The Traverse, Acadia and Enclave are even better examples! The GMC Canyon is going to much different than the Colorado!
Although GMC is a great brand, I see it as an extra parts brand! They are pretty much the same exact thing as their Chevy and Buick counterparts. Even if they are marketed towards different buyers (Colorado = Utility, Canyon = Luxury)
“Chevrolet can stick to muscle/retro design and Pontiac will do traditional performance oriented design. . . .”
That’s redundant and needless.
It’s also 2014, and there is no need for retro.
Furthermore, your proposed Buick/GMC tie-up would step on the toes of Cadillac; something that is simply unacceptable.
“It’s also 2014, and there is no need for retro.” That my friend was a very stupid thing to say, considering the Camaro is a retro muscle car!
Chevrolet has always had performance cars (i.e. Camaro, Corvette) in their lineup, but Pontiac was always significantly better than Chevrolet. Pontiac had real muscle (GTO, Firebird, G8 etc.)
How would that step on Cadillac anymore than Buick and GMC are already doing? Cadillac is a premium brand! GMC and Buick are luxury! They are in completely different segments! I mean come on! Where’s your common sense! Just admit GMC is an extra parts brand and get on with life…
Chevrolet is the mainstream brand of GM! They offer it all: economy, utility and performance, Buick offers luxury, GMC offers luxury utlity, Pontiac offered muscle and Cadillac offers premium luxury! What’s there not to get?
The Camaro is not and never was a muscle car, it was and still is a pony car.
Second, I don’t think you even know the difference between ‘Premium’ and ‘Luxury’, and in doing so, you’re debasing Cadillac to be BENEATH Buick.
Premium
adj.
Of superior quality or value: premium gasoline.
Idiom:
at a premium
More valuable than usual, as from scarcity:
Luxury
1. Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort.
2. Something expensive or hard to obtain.
3. Sumptuous living or surroundings: lives in luxury.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/premium
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/luxury
Cadillac has ALWAYS stood above Buick. Buick is doing nothing better than what Cadillac has done. Cadillac IS A LUXURY brand, and Buick is the down-market, second-tier, never-good-enough ‘premium’ brand.
In addition to your usual delusion…
“but Pontiac was always significantly better than Chevrolet.”
Provided you can remember when Pontiac was a division and not a brand channel. After the early-70’s, Pontiac was meaningless and redundant. If you’re trying to say they were “significantly better than Chevrolet”, you’re going to have to eat every lump of garbage badged as a Pontiac from then on as being “significantly better”. Cars like the Aztek, Astre, Sunbird, Sunfire, Torrent, GrandPrix, GrandAM, G3, G5, Bonneville, G6, Transport, SV6, Montana – THE LOT.
If you’re going to sit there with a shit eating grin and tell everyone that those above cars were memorable in any way apart for the value of their scrap metal, then you can keep on grinning.
You can keep posting your broken fantasy plans for GM with your unrealistic expectations of powertrains and marketability. The problem is they won’t work if you keep insisting that Pontiac can work the same way it did 40 years ago in this day and age when gas is as expensive as it is, and the ROI on performance cars NECESSITATES them to be low-volume, contrary to Pontiac’s high-volume sales history.
That, and why you think Buick is above Cadillac. That really shows how deluded you are.
Get a life! You know damn well what I meant. What a waste of your time to write all of that just to make yourself look like an idiot!
Sorry if you want Mark to fix that elect him as your next PM. Manufacturing cars in a welfare state like Australia is simply not economically viable and the only reason it still happens in Europe is because the socialist governements there put a gun to the head of corporations and make closing plants harder than pulling teeth. After a decade of billion dollar losses and rampant overcapacity Opel is closing its first plant in deacdes in 2016. You can bet than when the Canadian government divests its interests in GM, Oshawa will be closed too. You can even see how manufacturing in Korea is going in that direction due to the rapid and radical unionization of its labor force. The US and China are looking at be the only places where auto manufacturing makes any sense and thats only because the UAW pulled its head out of its ass with the last contract negotiations. Its not about what sounds best in the press or what some fan boy wants its about economics, and in this case the numbers dont add up. I dont know how you can economically justify an entire R&D, design, manufacturing, and engineering operation for a market of only 1.1 million new cars/year especially when Holden had a little less than 10% of that. And as for the engineers most of the good ones willing to make a move will be moved elsewhere internationally, whether it be Opel, China, or GMNA.
I’m a frequent GMA reader and I’ve yet to disagree with one of your comments, keep it up! Someone has to talk some sense into these people and your comments save me the time of having to say the same thing twice.
last comment was in regards to Scott… not sure why reply function isnt indenting under the intended comment
You have no clue what you are talking about. GMC has one of the most loyal brand following out of any brand in the industry even if they are just tarted up Chevy’s. The fact the they are almost the same yet command much higher prices makes them a cash cow, why would GM walk away from billions of dollars by shutting down one of its most profitable brands, while also possibly alienating its most loyal brand demographic. Also you are a hypocrite for suggesting GMC get dumped for rebadging while advocating a Pontiac revival because outside of your fantasy land dream of new bespoke Pontiac models and engines they would just be Alpha platformed models with small blocks. You basically are asking for a Pontiac division that would be exactly like GMC while saying GMC needs to go. YOU MAKE NO SENSE
I didn’t say dump GMC, I said merge Buick and GMC (get rid of the Buick nameplate once and for all! I’ve been waiting since 2004!). It’s not shutting down GMC, it’s adding more to the lineup.
Yes, Pontiac had some bad ideas and products, I am not going to name them because God gave you a brain to figure that out. But with New GM, they could take Pontiac to a new level! You saw the G8! It was clearly amazing and that was Old GM!
GMC has always basically rebadged its models! The Sierra, Yukon, Envoy, Jimmy, Sonoma and Canyon are all great examples! The Terrain and Acadia however, are (for the most part) differentiated from Chevrolet and Buick. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the new Canyon matches up. The Sierra has the exact same interior as the Silverado with some different headlights and rims (not that it’s a bad truck or anything, it’s pretty much the same thing as the Silverado).
GM clearly has many platforms to play around with besides the Alpha! GM also has many engines and not just small blocks! They also have one of the biggest power/drive train divisions of any automotive company! I am positive they could bring some new engines into GM faster than I can say F-U. .
I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WANTED TO TALK IN ALL CAPS! I am not saying GMC needs to go, I am saying Buick needs to go! GMC can bring some sedans into their lineup which would make for further differentiation!
Evan you need to relax as GM is transforming Chevy and GMC more in different directions. The next Nox and Terrain will be more different also. Like Buick GMC has a lot of new product coming and the mid cycle models are not going to see the major changes yet.
You may call GMC the extra parts brand but GM calls it the extra profit and volume brand.
Yes GMC is going to more like Buick but they are still their own brand sold in the same dealers in most cases or like my GMC dealer they stand alone and are doing just fine thank you. They lost Pontiac and are doing just as well or better with GMC only. Just proves the profit power of trucks no matter the name plate.
Kevin G thanks for the heads up. I am glad someone gets it. Too many here base things on their emotions and not their business sense. They also do not factor in the many thing a real car executive has to consider in building cars.
I am not saying GMC doesn’t make money, I know it does, and a lot of it too. But it is a luxury brand (same as Buick). Why have two luxury brands when you can have one and possibly add another brand (e.g Pontiac). Buick needs to go! I’ve been waiting for them to go since 2004, but GM chose to get rid of the better brand (Oldsmobile). GMC can add the Verano, Regal and Lacrosse to their lineup (of course with some new names)! The Terrain will replace the Anthem and the Acadia would replace the Enclave! I hope GMC gets a luxury/utility wagon like a Saab 9-3X, Subaru Outback or Audi Allroad
I think merging Buick and GMC together or Buick being absorbed into GMC is a smart move. GM has to many brands and they all overlap one another. Whilst Buick and GMC have different cars, there are cars that they share Eg. Traverse, Acadia and the Buick version (name has escaped my mind). As for Pontiac, the G8 or final GTO can’t be used as an example of good Pontiacs because they were Holdens. Now that GM is killing off their best car in the Commodore (imo) and killed off the Monaro earlier, there us little hope for decent Pontiacs and if they were to bring back Pontiac, it would be nothing more than overpriced Chevrolet’s. What should happen is that Pontiac is brought back as an in-house tuning brand like SRT or in the GM world, OPC and HSV. So rather than have the Camaro ZL1, it could be sold as a reborn Firebird or something. Rather than have the V-Sport Caddy’s or whatever, have them as a Pontiac. Even be like SRT and call them the same name as their Chevy or Caddy siblings but from Pontiac. Right now, Pontiac could be importing the HSV Clubsport R8 SV alongside Chevy importing the Holden Commodore. HSV’s signature grill is a split one just like Pontiac so no redesign is even needed. If Chevrolet does do a 2nd gen SS, they wouldn’t be able to achieve what Holden did. No way could they create a car that is better than the prestige Euro cars and half the price. Why? Because they would potentially be stealing sales from Cadillac and the GMC/Buick merged brand. Like I said, GM has too many brands. Only if GM would at least keep Holden engineering. Sell the Commodore Evoke as an Opel and global Chevy. Sell SV6, SS, SS-V and Redline as Chevy. Calais, Calais-V and Caprice as Buick/GMC. HSV’s as Pontiacs… Pontiacs may cost more but the brand is still alive.
I like your words: “Buick being absorbed into GMC.”
The Zeta is going to die soon. I don’t want it to, but GM needs less platforms to save money (Those greedy bastards! Joking. . Kind of) If Pontiac came back, I’d want them to be a full brand instead of hurting their image even worse by being a “special trim level.”
Now if Pontiac came back with some classic looking cars (Think Firebird, G/P, Bonny, GTO, G6) they would thrive! I would kill to buy a new Firebird with the looks from a 67′ and 70′ and a new LT1 that can get up to 30 mpg! An even better example: I hope you saw the G6 concept! It was sleek and muscular, and defined what Pontiac was as a brand. .
Check it out here:
http://www.velocityjournal.com/images/full/2003/s2003021301/pn2003g6concept01.jpg
It seems that the people of this planet are not yet poor enough for the desires of Mr. Kevin G. Not enough dying by hunger and avoidable diseases.
He and his ilk will realize only too late that poor people do not buy new cars.
Have a look at Greece, whose forced poverty must sound like paradise to him, where the one million of a total registered stock of 5.5 million cars have not yet been able to pay their car tax for 2014, and about 100.000 have been deregistered because their owners could no longer afford it.
The indenting seems to work when you make an error with the captcha and then go back and enter your message again.
Do you mean that the reply-to indent does *not* work when an error is made with the captcha? That’s quite possible.
However, one way to circumvent the captcha altogether is to register here:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/register/
Alex Luft asks if I meant “that the reply-to indent does *not* work when an error is made with the captcha?
No, the contrary. Normally, the indenting on replies does no longer work for me as for many other participants in the discussions.
But then I got the impression that it does work, when I make an error in the Captcha. BTW, there are different reactions:
• when no name or eMail had been entered
• when no captcha solution had been entered at all
• when the entered captcha contains an error
In some cases, the text which I had entered before, is being preserved and shown again, in others it is lost (I got the habit to select all my text by CTRL-A and copy it in the scratchpad).
With my previous post I tried deliberately to provoke the programmatic reaction which enables the indenting, but I was thrown back to a global reply position.
BTW, I liked the artithmetic captcha much more than this guesswork of grossly distorted letters.
Evan you really want a GMC Regal?
The reality is GMC and Buick share only one and will share two SUV’s. In this case the Acadia takes the price ground between the Traverse and Enclave. The Terrain as of now is too close to the Nox and I expect the next model will have much more to offer than Chevy and will be priced between the Antham and Nox with a much different look and options you can not get on a Chevy.
Second you have to let GM get the work done at Buick as you have not yet seen any of the post Chapter 11 Money spent on Buick All they have now are left over converted Opel’s, Not that is a bad thing but the new cars we will see over the next few years will take Buick to the next level. As of now they have just been buying time as they fixed Chevy and Cadillac.
Buick sales in China were great enough to support them here so this gave GM time to fix the others first. If not for China Buick would be gone too very possible Opel would have been close or sold off.
Matt you re so far off the track.
The Zeta while a good car is an old car and has weight issues that even some aluminum parts can not address. GM will have a replacement for the SS that will be much lighter and better engineered as it will have new modern platform under it. The Zeta was not even the first choice for the Camaro but it was all they had and they did not have the money to do anything new. then.
You really also need to understand Holden engineering. It is not just a bunch of Australians stuck in some room down under doing all the work. The Holden engineers are made up of GM engineers from around the world many down under and many in other parts of the globe. While they may shut the plant down these same guys will be either there or moved to other GM engineering locations and continue to do what they do.
Case in point many of the engineers there are folks who were sent there to work on these programs. Even the leader at the time Mark Reuss was not a Aussie. In fact if it were not for his meddling the car may have gone away sooner.
This is not about nationality here it is about the collective use of GM assets and they can in this global configurations do anything anywhere they want anymore.
As for Pontiac and the Firebird it is dead and gone. The cost of a ZL1 program is nothing compared to the engineering and marketing of a FIrebird program that would only cannibalize the sales off the Camaro. You want to beat the Mustang pool your resources. If you want to hurt Camaro sales do a Firebird.
The ZL1 and Z/28 are examples of in house tuning and we will see more of it along with the SS and other models. You do not need a Pontiac division with duplication of resources eating up funding.
To qualify I have been and still am a Pontiac owner so trust me I hated to see Pontiac go but I also understand the Big Picture.
Do not be lulled into thinking the Camaro has beat the Mustang in sales just because of the car. Much of it was due to the loss of the Firebird. Most of these people just went to Chevy as the two combined could have out sold the stang most years.
Now they do they not do this with GMC as GMC and Chevy would out sell Ford most years. Well simple the profits per unit on the GMC are so much higher than a Firebird ever could think of. They seldom sold for much more than the Camaro and were more of an added cost to development. Once Pontiac lost their own engine they lost the soul of Pontiac. They were just restyled Chevys. Better looking yes but nothing but a Camaro with added cost and less profit to show. When you sell only 50K-75K units it limits profits vs. the hundreds of thousands of units of a truck.
No, I don’t have a damn clue what you mean; confusing ‘premium’ and ‘luxury’. You also think Pontiac would has a purpose in 2014, where the intervening years between 1964 and today doesn’t exist or didn’t matter.
I’m glad you’re not in control of GM. Terrible short-sighted decisions, and visions of a time period that predates your own age isn’t solid evidence to bring back Pontiac, or manage GM.
“Once Pontiac lost their own engine they lost the soul of Pontiac.”
Exactly.
On topic… I’m Glad Reuss is moving into this position. This is where a car guy is needed. He seems to understand what the market wants and is passionate enough to champion the good ideas to bring them to the public. It looks like good news for GM, and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out under his watch.