Former GM Executive Nick Reilly has passed away at the age of 74.
Reilly passed away on June 7th, 2024, leaving behind his wife, Susie, three children, and six grandchildren. He may perhaps be most remembered for his fight to keep Vauxhall car production in Britain, where he famously waived his £160,000 a year salary.
Growing up in North Wales, Reilly attended Harrow School before studying economics and engineering at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge. Eventually, he moved into a career in stockbroking until he began to feel unfulfilled at 24 years old. To solve his restlessness, Reilly climbed a mountain in Llangollen in Denbighshire and spent four months in a cottage during the winter to figure things out.
“It was the best thing I ever did,” Reilly has been quoted as saying. “I decided stockbroking was not what I wanted to do with my life. It was six miles to the nearest habitation. I came down every two weeks to play rugby and stock up on food. I grew a beard and long hair. I read a lot of books. I probably did more academic work than I did at Cambridge.”
Eventually, Reilly decided that his future revolved around manufacturing, and he began his career at General Motors in 1975 through the former UK-based Detroit Diesel Allison Division.
From there, Reilly steadily rose through the ranks at GM in Belgium, the U.S., Mexico, and GM Europe’s Zurich headquarters until he was appointed as Vauxhall Chairman and Managing Director in 1996 and General Motors Vice President the following year.
It was as Vauxhall Chairman that Reilly surrendered his £160,000 salary as a sign of commitment to keep the firm in Britain. Beyond that, he also sent a letter to 10,000 employees where he explained that nine other company directors were to have their salaries frozen.
Some additional highlights of his career include overseeing The General’s takeover and restructuring of Korea’s Daewoo, and becoming GM Asia President. Reilly eventually retired from the Detroit-based automaker in 2011.
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Comments
This article has focused on Vauxhall era, But he is also true hero of Korean automotive industry too. He is a lighthouse of GM Daewoo until he gone. Rest In Peace…
This is sad news. We communicated often and Nick kindly wrote the Forword to my three-volume book on GM, “On a Global Mission: The Automobiles of General Motors International”. He also contributed some of the details of the Asian operations. He had a most significant career.
Nice book plug….
Nick and I worked together in Detroit and in Mexico . A true friend . I am very saddened by his passing. Rest in peace my friend.