Doug Harden

Red's talking about BM's dumb@$$ comment...

guionM

I agree with the assesment of Zarella, just a couple of things to add, good and bad:

*Zarella seems to have also killed the original FWD V8 Impala SS that Jon Moss put together that had a great shot at production......bad.

*Zarella ran blocker when GM's board began backpeddling on Cadillac CTS's bold design....good.

*Zarella also ran interference and threw alot of weight around to enable Cadillac to have the money, support, and resources to turn itself around....very good.

*Zarella is the original "put the money where the profits are" type of guy that starved car funds and fattened up trucks & SUVs, creating the problems on the car side that GM has even today....extremely bad!

*Zarella wasted alot of time, resources, and money on marketing and studies instead of products.....inexcusable!

Zarella was misplaced at GM. However, as is being seen with even the current CEO, no 1 person can dictate what happens. Zarella also had alot of people from Proctor & Gamble, and other businesses that were far removed from the auto business (and pretty clueless IMO) in key positions.

I think Ron Zarella ALONE might have had some of his worse moves neutralized. But add in the Board of Directors facination with bringing in marketers whose experience is in selling supermarket items, and place them in key places above people who know the business, and you're asking for trouble with a capital T.

Joe K. 96 Zeee!!

Yup..he basically said so in that thread at Chears and Gears. He met with UAW members and was most likely sowing seeds of discontent saying "Here I am with THE solution and they won't listen to me!"

Then in the end he calls everyone that critisizes him an idiot. Basically what happened here, accept it only took them 2 months to get rid of him.

I see why he's a good salesman. He'll try every angle and he doesn't quit. Few are buying this time though.

Fbodfather

One last tidbit.

When he came to GMl, he claimed to have an MBA.

Turns out he lied!

I still haven't gotten over that one!

Further, I credit mainly him for tearing apart the Chevrolet Sales organization......truly incredibly stupid. As he entered, a lot of talent left.....people like Jim Perkins and John Rock...and many middle managers that were being groomed for top positions. I truly believe that he did more damage to GM than anyone in the history of the company.

dream '94 Z28

Including Roger Smith?

R377

I personally don't think that Roger Smith was the evil villian the press makes him out to be. Many of his strategies were brilliant and showed great foresight, e.g. creating Saturn, automating the factories, purchasing EDS and Hughes. It was in the execution of these ideas where things didn't turn out so well. Where he was weak was that he didn't pay enough attention to the automotive side of the business and contributed to the decline of GM's engineering dominance (though to be fair the "cookie cutter" era began well before Smith, with the X, A, and J-cars).

number77

Thank you for your comments. I don't know alot about this guy because I wasn't following GM's execs closely then. But I do like to hear both the good and the bad when someone is being criticized.

I have a question, did Zarella count on the market stopping? I mean, the car market hasn't grown so much in the last few years. Its more of just one company gaining sales, and another losing sales.

Red, thanks for your comments also. Its cool to hear about GM from inside the doors. You mentioned a couple of specific, low key, guys that were on a good path and got pushed astray. Stuff like that I'll never hear about in a news article. I mean, I must admit, in the late 90's I had no idea GM was headed for disaster. Its kinda like someone spun the helm like a roulette wheel and jump shipped. Then some poor guy comes along and realizes the ship is about to be beached; taking him a while to save and then properly navigate it.

Tanker Don

Red-

Insightful… appreciate your critique of Ron Z's affect on the leadership and managerial culture at GM. The same could be said of the military (of which I am a part) ... it is the result of individuals who become more focused on the advancement of their own agendas and careers, and consequently the non-substantive measures of merit (presentations/meetings/reports/allegiances) instead of the core mission of the organization. Sorry to hear you had to endure so much criticism for not "towing the party line." But, in the end, who's still around to fight another day for the General? Yes, that's right... old Scotty (a car man) not the slick suit and tie.

The military continues to survive because it is not profit centered, and its command structure is reliant upon the absence of free and independent thinking. The same can not be said for an organization who's life blood now rests upon its ability to create innovating, exciting, unique products that will recapture lost market share in North America. A culture of constructive candor, independent thought centered upon shared values, and calculated risk taking cultivated at every level of GM is what is needed to resurrect this company. My best wishes to you, Scott, in this endeavor. I just hope what we see next month at the auto show is indicative of this 'new era' for GM.

camarofan91

Scott, I really hope you write a book about this stuff . I find everything that goes on in GM to be very interesting, I could read for hours. Like Zarella not even coming from the automotive field, who would have known!

GETGONE

So he had an MBS instead? (Mostly Bull Stuff) I know a LOT of people like that!

Z284ever

I can only ponder what might have been at GM, had Zarella and his cohorts never darkened the door.

30thZ286speed

So basically he wanted to turn GM into what Chrysler was in the early to mid 90s. No RWD and everything basically on the same platform with the same engines. And basically thats what we have up until recently, take away Caddy, Corvette, and GTO and there isn't really anything to get excited about.

Thank god things are starting to turn around.

Sixer-Bird

Are you talking about Zarella or BM?

R377

Zarella. He got quite a few headlines about this

SSbaby

Yes, I heard about this (faking his degree) from a person who works for Bausch and Lomb... where Zarella should have stayed all along!!!