Wagoner voted #1 in Motor Trend's 2008 Power List

[zete]

Well, well. It seems GM is on a roll. Wagoner was just voted #1 in Motor Trend's fourth annual Power List of the 50 most influential men and women in the car business.

We chose Wagoner for the top position because he's leading GM's turnaround, largely by fostering much improved new cars and trucks.

More here: Wagoner #1 in Motor Trend's Power List.

[86fleet]

You really do have to give credit to Wagoner, he's the best CEO that GM's had in a very long time

[paul8488]

Someone forward this to Buickman's inbox... he's going to love it...

[zete]

Originally Posted by paul8488

Someone forward this to Buickman's inbox... he's going to love it...

It might just kill him.

[drew630]

Really.... Is Buickman even on here anymore?? I haven't seen him lately.

[ericmvest]

It is too earlier to tell, but Rick Wagner maybe the best General Motors' Chairman/CEO since Al Sloan. He is certainly the best in last three or four decades.

[agman25]

Some good points..

MT: The problem with Saturn, since you've turned over its lineup, is that you don't have people thinking that Saturn is the place to go for a car like the Aura.

WAGONER: I think there's some education to do there, that's fair. I think the other point is we've moved away from the way Saturn had evolved, as a low-priced brand. It's good volume, but it's not a low-priced brand anymore. We're going to stick to our guns here. We're not going to chase volume, we're going to grow volume with Saturn, and if you look at virtually any brand that has grown over time, they've done it by one step in front of an other. It's a different process for our Saturn dealers, who I'm sure couldn't be more delighted. Would I like it to go faster? Sure. But it's good work, and work worth doing. And I think it's going to pay benefits over time.

I think that is the way to go. Be patient, keep working at it. No brand was built in a day.

[SuperSS27]

MT: Toyota or GM. Who's going to be number one this year?

WAGONER: So after three quarters, it's like, 12,000 units difference against a base for each of us of 7 million units, so I mean, who knows? It depends on which markets are stronger. China and Brazil are stronger for us, Japan favors them. I just have to say ... the numbers are reported at the end of the quarter, we like to win, but frankly, we are running our business in line with the strategy we've laid out. It'd be great if we win on that basis and if we don't, we'll try again next year. Because we don't like to lose stuff like that. But, you know, we've taken out 100,000 daily rentals this year in the U.S.; we've taken out daily rentals in Europe. We're not willing to sacrifice our business strategy to retain the number-one slot, but we'd like to by retaining our business strategy. We'll see though. No prediction.

I like this part.

[CamaroCrazy]

I like what Wagoner said about Saturn. Proof that yes, GM gets it after all. Now if the media and Wall Street would cool it and let these guys do their jobs, it will all pay off in the end.

[usa1]

Wow. All this praise for Wagoner. He's OK, but the best in 30 to 40 years? Come on. Remember Fiat? Have you see GM's marketshare during his tenure? I'll give Wagoner credit, A LOT of credit, for FINALLY making the tough choices needed to make GM great again, but this guy needed to WAIT until GM was near death before acting. He started years too late in his tenure. It's good to see GM do the right things now, but I'd give someone like Lutz a lot more credit than Wagoner.

Mark

[ericmvest]

Originally Posted by usa1

Wow. All this praise for Wagoner. He's OK, but the best in 30 to 40 years? Come on. Remember Fiat? Have you see GM's marketshare during his tenure? I'll give Wagoner credit, A LOT of credit, for FINALLY making the tough choices needed to make GM great again, but this guy needed to WAIT until GM was near death before acting. He started years too late in his tenure. It's good to see GM do the right things now, but I'd give someone like Lutz a lot more credit than Wagoner.

Mark

Wagnoner knew that he needed to bring in Lutz to strengthen General Motors' product, similar to Al Sloan bringing Harley Earl into General Motors and giving him a lot of authority. 30 years goes back to Thomas Murphy being Chairman/CEO. In my opinion Rick Wagner has performed better than Thomas Murphy in much more difficult circumstances and is better than any Chairman/CEO since Thomas Murphy.

[tgunnd39]

Originally Posted by usa1

Wow. All this praise for Wagoner. He's OK, but the best in 30 to 40 years? Come on. Remember Fiat? Have you see GM's marketshare during his tenure? I'll give Wagoner credit, A LOT of credit, for FINALLY making the tough choices needed to make GM great again, but this guy needed to WAIT until GM was near death before acting. He started years too late in his tenure. It's good to see GM do the right things now, but I'd give someone like Lutz a lot more credit than Wagoner.

Mark

I disagree, but only from this standpoint:

It takes approximately 36-48 months to bring a new car to market. Given that, Wagoner did not wait years into his tenure, as it obviously required foresight to be able to glean what was to occur "down the road" as it were.

Yes, I will agree that he is not perfect and that Lutz deserves a large helping of the credit for GM's renaissance, but leadership begins at the top. So...

Let us hope that he continues the positive steps. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.

My .02

[uboys]

Originally Posted by zete

It might just kill him.

He's too busy selling Enclaves.

[uboys]

Originally Posted by tgunnd39

I disagree, but only from this standpoint:

It takes approximately 36-48 months to bring a new car to market. Given that, Wagoner did not wait years into his tenure, as it obviously required foresight to be able to glean what was to occur "down the road" as it were.

Yes, I will agree that he is not perfect and that Lutz deserves a large helping of the credit for GM's renaissance, but leadership begins at the top. So...

Let us hope that he continues the positive steps. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.

My .02

And that Wagoner hired Lutz.

[PeterPuck]

Originally Posted by drew630

Really.... Is Buickman even on here anymore?? I haven't seen him lately.

He shows up occasionally, but only when there's a "bad news for GM" thread. He's positioned himself so that bad news for GM is good news for him.