Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Rick Wagoner's 31-year career may fall victim to the mistakes of the industry and his own, even if General Motors Corp. survives.
The GM chief executive officer unleashed scrutiny of his record after asking for a government bailout to keep the Detroit automaker in business. Now, his departure may be a necessary condition of any federal rescue, business leaders and lawmakers say.
``Management needs to be replaced,'' said Robert Crandall, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. ``The fact is that the management as a whole has had lots of opportunities to fix this. They haven't.''
Wagoner has run the world's largest automaker for the past eight years, presiding over $73 billion in losses beginning in 2005. He already endured a fight with dissident shareholders and several failed turnarounds and may argue he knows the company better than most who could take his job.
The 55-year-old executive joined GM in 1977, as U.S. automakers were fending off Japanese competitors who recognized the need a decade earlier to build fuel-efficient vehicles. While U.S. auto sales broke records during Wagoner's years as CEO, the three major producers -- Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC and GM -- battled against high labor costs from pension and retiree health care obligations.
Removing CEOs
``There's the feeling that next to financial services, automotive execs are the dumbest people in the world,'' said Thomas Stallkamp, a former Chrysler president who worked at the car company when it received emergency government loans in 1980. ``There are probably some symbolic moves that somebody's going to ask for.''
Continued>>>
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ap8pS2oslvn0&refer=home