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Steve Carlisle To Temporarily Take On GM Global Marketing Duties

GM has decided to temporarily hand over leadership of its Global Marketing Organization to the president of GM North America, Steve Carlisle. He will continue to serve as the company’s North American president while also filling the shoes of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

While Carlisle serves as acting CMO, The General will continue its search for a permanent occupant for the post, the Detroit Free Press reported on March 16th.

The GM Renaissance Center headquarters.

The search for a new CMO and Carlisle’s stop-gap appointment result from the upcoming retirement of current marketing chief Deborah Wahl. Wahl has been with GM for five years after a stint as CMO at McDonalds and an assortment of automotive brands, and has headed global marketing since 2019.

Wahl will step down on March 31st, 2023, after which date Steve Carlisle will carry out the duties of CMO until a fresh hire can be found for the post. The position was vacant between 2012 and 2019 following the resignation of Joel Ewanick as a result of making an unauthorized sponsorship deal between Chevy and the Manchester United soccer team.

The Detroit Free Press points out that marketing is likely to be crucial for GM in 2023 given its various current initiatives and projects. In particular, GM CEO Mary Barra described 2023 as a “breakout year,” as the automaker attempts to overtake Tesla as the top U.S. EV maker.

GM will therefore need strong marketing as its push in electric vehicles continues. It intends to boost annual EV sales to 1 million units by 2025. Also on the schedule is the introduction of at least 30 new electric vehicle models worldwide during the same period. GM anticipates that its EV strategy will add up a minimum of $7 billion in expenses by mid-decade.

The General Motors llogo at the GM Renaissance Center.

Analysts say electric vehicle production volume by GM may be falling short of its rivals because it chose to go about introducing EVs differently. It first laid the groundwork for a large lineup of EVs through thorough development of its GM Ultium batteries, electric GM Ultium Drive motors, and its highly scalable BEV3 platform.

Now that these technologies are in place, however, GM can potentially use them as a jumping off point from which it can attempt to reach parity with is competitors and then surpass them.

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Comments

  1. Steve

    He should also retire. He’s been at GM for 43 years, that’s long enough. Besides, if he can carry out a role as large as GM president and chief marketing officer simultaneously it can’t be that hard.

    Reply
  2. John Stapleton

    He is useless. Failed at Cadillac gets a promotion.

    Reply
    1. Alfred Sloan

      A bit like Mary Barra’s fail as VP of Product Development and subsequent promotion?

      Reply
      1. Gary L.

        Steve was great as GM of Canada President till Detroit management disbanded it ,and closed Oshawa headquarters and plants after shipping him to Cadillac that already was a basket case when he arrived and putting the headquarters in New York ,remember those real facts !

        Reply
    2. TR

      Exactly he did nothing but contradict himself when he ran Cadillac into the ground

      Reply
    3. Mr. Mike

      Since when is GM doing a good job the requirement for a them to pat themselves on the back?

      Very little worth talking about coming out of their facilities these days. There is potential but there has been potential for decades.

      Reply
    4. JWL

      Dang, 136 dislikes. Guy must have some fans somewhere.

      Reply
      1. Samuel Gompers

        Its lonely at the top, but not at the bottom.

        Reply
  3. Reno

    This year Mary is going to ATTEMPT to overtake Tesla in EV sales. Oh man. Is anyone else’s sides hurting from uncontrolled laughter at that statement?
    Her record on prior EV sales statements for gm give her zero credibility. She has been yapping about EV being gm’s top goal for years, yet Ford quietly blew by gm in EV sales last year.
    When is she going to be held accountable?
    For all you sexists out there who keep giving her a pass because she’s a woman, shame on you.

    Reply
    1. Watt

      While we all were excited “Lyriq is the best of GM ever built car”, the hard fact is the sales of Lyriq in China market is way down from last October 800+ to January 400+ and past February 265.
      Some people says, ” Lyriq will bring down GM’s reputation as whole” which is totally opposite what we hoped.
      It is very challenging period for GM in China market at this moment.

      Reply
  4. Evo69

    Well. for the first time in a while GM has some really competitive vehicles to spread GM’s brands into global markets, especially in those areas where GM are not well known.

    Reply
    1. Bill Howland

      I don’t count the number of Photo Shopped vehicles… The only plug-in vehicles made are the 2017 based Chevy Bolt EV and EUV – almost identical vehicles-I’ve had an EV but traded it in for an EUV – a small improvement.

      I find it humorous that the huge batteried GMC HUMMER (211 kwh vs 65 kw – or is it 66? GM has used both figures for the identical battery) has formerly used an 11 kw charger, when the 2023 LYRIQ – where there have been supposedly 100’s offered for sale; out west and in the south I guess since I have yet to see a SINGLE LYRIQ around these parts – can only be obtained with that ridiculously standard 19 kw model. Only this year has the 19 kw charger been available for the HUMMER, a vehicle which really needs it. And in a 180 degree change, the 19 kw model is ALWAYS OPTIONAL on ANY 2024 CADDY LYRIQ.

      But if they are taking STEVE away from his marketing position – that is probably just as well. Running commercials all the time yet having essentially no vehicles for sale.

      With the Battery Electrics – their marketing / sales plans seem to be Schitzophrenic. They have wildly changing trim levels, and have reneged on their promise of an under $60,000 initial vehicle, essentially.. The 2024s at least have the ‘TECH’ trim with about 1/2 of the gobbledygook removed (i’d prefer all of it removed but Hey its an improvement), along with around a $6,000 price increase for the remaining vehicle ($9,000 price increase compared to the few and far between DEBUT releases), but, supposedly buyers who put down a deposit and have HARD BUILD ORDERS – I still have a $15,000 deposit on mine due to a trade in – are MAYBE given a $5,000 voucher on a 2024.

      Of course, they reneged on the order once by cancelling my extra cost BLUE and substituting an extra cost BLACK. Now, if GMA is to be believed, all 2023 production has ENDED, whereas I am promised mine with be manufactured as a 2023 the week of 4/17/23.. So if true they will renege again and move me to a 2024 – which with a tech trim will save me money but will undoubtedly be a much longer delay.

      I had no idea this EPIC PROJECT of purchasing a Caddy was going to take such a significant percentage of my remaining life-span.

      The only way GM is going to beat Tesla is if the latter crashes and burns – which is unlikely. I see plenty of Teslas in quite poor Buffalo, New York – and plenty of discontinued Volts (both generations), and only a few BOLTS. ZERO Lyriqs or Hummers.

      Of course, if they made the simple Lyriqs first with an ‘economy dashboard’, and no goofy – Physical Security challenging – “Choreographed Lighting”, and no ‘Gesture Latches’ – they could have plenty on the road by now. I can figure this out for FREE. Why it takes Highly Overpaid GM EXECS to stumble so severely is beyond amusing.

      Reply
      1. Bob

        Tesla may not change the face but it constantly improves the speed, ride, battery chemistry and even made the car quitter with double pane glass. Instead of offering several meaningless models everyone has panoramic sun roof, everyone one has the capability of self driving, every model has surround cameras and great charge speeds and a good charging network… The list goes on. GM can be excused for releasing the original Bolt with awful seats, made by a man who wished to torture the customer, the ride of an old horse drawn wagon and slow charge speed but to never update these? The seats were swapped with little improvement, they still suck, The suspension is a little better but not much. Charging, well its last place. The build quality is solid and the looks are meh.. they need to fire their designers, and you could excuse some of this for the price point but the charging speed and the seats you can not.

        Reply
        1. Steve Hill

          A Chevy has to feel like a Chevy so a Cadillac will feel like a Cadillac.

          Reply
          1. Bob

            Honestly what does that mean? Are you trying to say GM is so big it can pick and choose the style of cars it makes because it does not have to be competitive? Hey we can make crap cars because people will by them anyway? This will end soon. That old school we are too big to fail thinking is not what the company needs. Or maybe you think government handouts and bail outs if they go bankrupt is OK by you. Fact is the clock is ticking and GM is way behind. Telsa is increasing market share every day which means, others are losing theirs. the Mexico plant will crank out another million cars in a year that will shrink the market further. The Texas plant will make Cyber trucks there goes another million. Heck even the Tesla Semi will start hauling Pepsi products soon. I guess the idea is keep everything the same and it will all be OK. Remember the 70s? GM sold crap cars and got spanked and had to crawl to the fed for handouts. The Japanese came in and wiped the floor with them. Now think Tesla and the Chinese in the 2025’s. Hope your thinking Chevy needs to be Chevy then. By the way the Cadillac Lyriq production numbers are abysmal. Hope they like unemployment. I for one Love GM and their products. For what ever reason they think a better commercial will fix things. That’s just nuts. They need to get their engineers in a room and build products at scale not in the 100’s.
            Also just heard in China they are in big trouble with excess inventory and July approaching that has new clean air regulations that will make those cars unsellable.

            Reply
  5. Ross

    I worked with Steve while an executive for GM. He’s a smart guy and can multi task at an incredible pace. It’s good that GM has realized that brooming older execs is not always the right move. The wisdom from the older players prevents making the same mistakes over and over again.

    Reply
    1. Bill Howland

      Ross:

      He must be hiding his ‘Brilliance’ under a basket since GM’s release of both the Hummer EV and LYRIQ EV is future fodder for ‘Saturday Night Live’ routines….

      For instance, – everything GM seems to do in the Plug in vehicle world is simply ‘Monkey See Monkey Do’.

      They have goofy motorized door bumpers to open the LYRIQ doors 1 inch, since Teslas and Jags have in the past had motorized door ‘presenters’.

      They put Electrified motorized Charging Doors on the Lyriqs, and supposedly the upcoming Blazer EVs… Simply because other manufacturers like Porsche put them on their overpriced vehicles..

      I HAD THOUGHT gm had learned their lesson with the 2011-2012 VOLTS where they had a relatively simple electric SOLENOID latch which never worked, and the concept was GOOFY from the start because, unlike an ICE vehicle full of gasoline to be stolen, there is NOTHING to steel when the door is closed.
      Paying for warranty service on the doors convinced GM that all 2013-2019 VOLTS and the PREMIUM Caddy ELR had simple click latches on the charging port doors.

      If any vehicle needed an ELECTRIC MOTORIZED fuel filler door it is the ICE vehicles with something to steal. But ZERO gm ICE products have them since the Great Brains haven’t seen it on any competitive car. and obviously cannot think that far ahead anyways.

      These are just 2 examples of waste of engineering time and the resultant increased vehicle manufacturing cost of BS (BEYOND STUPIDITY) ideas.

      Reply
  6. David Alan Murray

    GM Marketing Chief position vacant for seven years between 2012 and 2019. ??? Interesting.

    Former marketing Chief from McDonalds Restaurants. ??? More interesting.

    I scratch my head sometimes.

    Reply
  7. Dr. Piz

    Whoever takes over marketing needs to market a vehicle they can produce and deliver. And please don’t reply GM couldn’t deliver and still can’t deliver because of COVID or the supply chain. There are many other auto manufacturers delivering their vehicles. Second point, if inflation, gas and food prices, and interest rates don’t start coming down, people are not going to be buying new vehicles let alone overpriced EVs.

    Reply
  8. Maynard

    Carlos Ghosn is available, just don’t send him to Japan. You might have to bring him back in a music equipment box.

    Reply
    1. Craig

      Who knew ol Carlos was smuggled like that? I sure didn’t until watched that Netflix documentary,

      Reply
      1. Maynard

        The father and son team were extradited to Japan and imprisoned for doing it. They are now back in the US finishing their sentences. Hardy worth what they were paid to do it.

        Reply
  9. Gary L.

    Steve Carlisle an Industrial Engineer from GM 🇨🇦 Canada original Oshawa Truck Plant and is probably one of the most experienced top Managers in The GM executive ranks ,he can handle both positions since he has held both international and national roles in GM . He is probably Mary Barra’s most dependable functioning executive still staying with the company when most others are jumping ship !

    Reply
    1. Bill Howland

      Gary L:

      I have known a few GM white collar employees and they all seem to suffer from a “GM MINDSET”

      The fact that he has done something wrong for 47 years just means he has ingrained mediocrity.

      About 1/3 rd of the comments here seem to have GLOWING and GUSHING laudatory remarks but detailed examples of his successes are never to be found…The failures and loss of market share are LEGION.

      People who don’t like this commentary never discuss what is wrong with the information I presented, they just don’t like hearing it.

      I have had many GM vehicles in the last 10 years, and would like to purchase many more…. This will greatly slow down if they cannot improve, unfortunately. I am just stating what other prospective customers ALREADY DO: namely – vote with their feet.

      As it is, the LYRIQ would be attractive as finally, a good value Mid-Size station wagon which can go a reasonable amount of miles on a trip without being forced to find a refueling point.

      GM obviously doesnt even themselves REALIZE the innate desirability of such a vehicle. Instead they fill it up with goofy lighting, and really goofy dashboards..

      Seriously, – how many people buy a practical vehicle which fills a practical need because of Clown Show lighting, and Dashboards?

      Even unreliable, overpriced Teslas give you the ability to , for instance, change the charging rate at ‘220’ whereas GM has on all vehicles – since the 2011 VOLT, only given you this choice at ‘110’.

      What is the point of a super huge dashboard if you cannot perform such a simple function?

      And then the standard and fancy Radio at extra cost, still have difficult usage issues, – allowing only a blue tooth, or USB-C method of control. This may be the most popular method, but it is not the only method for the typical Cadillac Demographic. Oh well, there is still AM and FM, I hope !!!

      Reply
      1. Gary L.

        Yes Bill, – GM has plenty of design ,customer satisfaction, complexity, build, delivery and price concerns on both their EV and ICE vehicles ,but your nonsensical statement on one short term promoted executive Steven Carlisle who you say has been doing something wrong for 47 years and has ingrained Mediocrity into the company is absurd .You know very little about his years in GM of Canada or in the USA assignments especially when you say GM white collar employees you know have a GM mindset ,how do you know they aren’t as frustrated as you trying to steer this huge Titanic oriented Corporation to success but overruled or let go in cost cutting operations to support EV production while all other large auto companies also offer Hybrids and chargeable hybrid to offset their EV slow startup numbers!

        Reply
    2. Rick Sand

      I’m sure he is an incredibly qualified industrial engineer as well as an effective executive. Both of these qualifications give him exactly zero ability to judge creative development and execute effective marketing strategies. This is the same problem GM has had for, oh, about the last 5 DECADES. They place little to no value in marketing; believing the “GM” tag on the vehicle says it all. It’s great when an executive team places a high value on their company and their products – not so great when they don’t realize that the rest of the world lost interest in them and most of what they build long ago. I’m very impressed with the level of engineering in today’s GM vehicles. Also impressed with the competence of senior management to build great vehicles. But c’mon folks, you have to MARKET what makes your vehicles what they are. How far down does your market share have to go before you realize that you have to SELL the SIZZLE? You need someone who knows how to do that, not Steve Carlisle. Joel Ewanick was the first and last GM marketing executive in decades with the expertise and guts to pull that off. We all saw how that ended. He didn’t fit in. And they left the marketing position vacant for years after. When is the last time you can remember Chevrolet’s tag line? For me it’s, “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet” or, “Chevy Trucks, Like a Rock”. Both from over forty (40!) years ago. You just can’t make this stuff up.

      Reply
      1. Exsanguinate

        Spot on comment!

        Reply
  10. Ricky

    Sure we do, It shows the descent within the company’s ranks and the willingness to abandon ship before it sinks!

    Reply
  11. Nate

    “I don’t think we need a GMA article on every one of them.”

    They did an article on a wood carving of a Trans Am. I think a leadership change of any kind is at least as deserving as that.

    Reply
  12. Bob

    They don’t need marketing, GM needs to deliver cars at scale. Oh yeah only Tesla can do that at a reasonable cost.

    Reply
  13. David Alan Murray

    Maynard:

    I love your comment. You are a true car buff and docent of this crazy and bizarre auto industry.

    Frought with so much backstabbing, intrigue and politics that has sadly done the American automakers in from their once proud heyday, that we all loved. GM is the poster child of backstabbing politics. It has a reputation amongst it’s many vendors as winning the award for arrogance and the high and mighty syndrome.
    My boss, Jerry Klise, RIP, and I sold Caterpillar on highway diesel truck engines to the General when GM was making vocational trucks. The famed Caterpillar 3208, 636 cubic inch diesel truck engines. The General would try to squeeze us each year for price decreases. The GM purchasing people would tell us the General did not like our prices. We replied back that we would like to talk to the General. The Cat 3208 engine made the GM vocational truck just like the Cummins 5.9 diesel engine made Dodge pickups, now Ram, Stellantis’s big cash cow.

    Reply
    1. Maynard

      Thanks for the complement David. I am not in any way trying to beat up on the General. As you said, it is a bizarre industry, very rough and tumble. Everyone is fighting for their market share and they have to deal with fickle customers and supply chain issues. My dad worked for Fisher Body for 25 years. They treated him well while he worked there and also after he retired. My first car was a 1968 GTO convertible with the optional 400 HO motor, no power steering and manual drum brakes. A cool car, but probably not the best choice for a dopey 16 year old, working in a car wash to support it. GM has made their share of mistakes, but when I look at the new Corvette and various other new models, I am impressed. I wish Mary Barra and the rest of the company smooth sailing and good luck.

      Reply
  14. Exsanguinate

    Maybe in their marketing of the 2023 Silverado they can let customers know that a PRINTED OWNERS MANUAL is no longer included. You can purchase one for $50.00, but none are in stock. 70k+ and these cheap f**ks don’t give you an owners manual.

    Reply

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