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2010
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Bob Lutz to head "old GM"
Bob Lutz, former vice president of General Motors, has reversed his
decision of retirement once again.
Early last month, Lutz announced his retirement at the end of March
following 47 years working in the motor industry. However, since then
he had been contacted by Ron Bloom, the automotive task force or
so-called "Car Czar" of Obama government, for leading a new venture
formed from the remaining assets of "old GM".
GM went under bankruptcy protection last June. During the 45-days
protection period, good assets were sold to the "new GM" and bad assets
were left at the "old GM". While the new GM resumed operation and has
been recovering, few people remember that the old GM was still there,
and continued to be the burden of American taxpayers. It was one of the
most critical problems for Ron Bloom to resolve. According to insider,
the Obama government believed that the old GM could be turned into a
valuable asset given some nice packaging, just like how Wall Street
treated subprime mortgages. This view is shared with Bob Lutz, who has
been desperately finding a new job to refuel his private jetfighter.
It is believed that Lutz is chosen for the job because he is the oldest
guy out there.
Lutz is upbeat about the reopening of old GM. "Remember, its assets
include even more plants than the new GM", said Lutz during an
interview by Detroit Pistons, "This will provide us the volume to beat
my ex-employer from the outset."
However, in order to avoid oversupplying the fragile US market, Lutz
plans to convert half of the factories to produce his favourite cigars,
then gradually shift back to automobile production once the market gets
stabilized. The flexible production lines of GM makes switching between
cars and cigars easy. "Recent studies found out we can simply take away
the letter 'i' and 'g' from cigars to make cars."
Apart from production capacity, the old GM also holds many valuable
marques, such as Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and even the long-defunct
Oldsmobile.
"They provide us a full and healthy portfolio of products. Each brand
will have its unique identity, market positioning and target customers.
Hummer will be our truck brand. Saturn will be our import-fighter
against Chinese socks. Oldsmobile will serve very old people like me.
And Pontiac, remember those chicken graphics on their bonnets or
MJ-style plastic cladding everywhere ? it is always a symbol of
American dream and taste. How could we miss it ?"
Concerning product plan, according to his plan, he has many plans, and
those plans contain many sub-plans. One of the plans will be to sell
green cars in order to secure the green car development fund of the US
Federal government. "Yes, all our cars will be painted green."
All these news sound exciting enough to us. The "old GM" is scheduled
to reopen at East coast time 9:00am, 1st of April, accompany with press
conference at Marriott hotel. We will bring you update shortly.
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[Update: ET 9:01am] Well, it's all over. "Old GM" has been filed under
Chapter 11 again as it failed to pay the hotel rent. Bob Lutz retires
again. |
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