Daniel Howes' Blog

GM's news: RenCen to remain HQ, top sales guy to go, quickly

To all those readers who objected to my characterization of Fiat-controlled Chrysler as all pasta and no salami, I'd offer this: General Motors Co., also a ward of the American taxpayers, is assiduously telling the public what it's doing with their money, which is more than can be said for signori calling the shots in Auburn Hills.

(And don't talk to me about the five-year plan scheduled to be released next month, some five months after Chrysler exited bankruptcy. Didn't know "accountability" had two meanings, which appears to be the case when you compare the public postures of the two post-bankrupt automakers.)

Back in reality, we had GM CEO Fritz Henderson holding another conference call today to update the world on the General, 90 days into its new life. The news? North American sales chief Mark LaNeve, who survived the post-C11 bloodletting and got a seat on Henderson's nine-person executive committee, is leaving (as predicted earlier on this blog), effective Oct. 15. Matter of fact, just in passing, ol' Fritz laid it out and moved on.

Second piece of news: "Our headquarters will remain here in the Renaissance Center," he said. "We will consolidate quite a bit of our operations out in Warren," as well as at the Milford Proving Grounds and a testing center in Pontiac.

Perhaps now the peripatetic mayor of Warren, Jim Fouts, can cease his humorless campaign to woo GM from downtown. And perhaps now some in the local media can dispense with the breathless scare headlines suggesting same. I mean, besides getting GM's CEO on the record, we've got Mayor Dave Bing willing to say that President Obama -- personally -- told him that GM's headquarters will remain downtown. Until BHO leaves office or unless GM collapses, I'd say an official decampment from the RenCen (as distinct from the personnel rebalancing clearly underway) is off the table.