http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...905219991/1128



Cadillac chief Mark McNabb resigns after 13 months at GM

Jamie LaReau
Automotive News
May 21, 2009 - 10:48 am ET
UPDATED: 11:52 a.m. ET, 5/21/09


DETROIT -- Mark McNabb, who was hired by GM 13 months ago to lead Cadillac, Saab and Hummer and ended up trying to sell two of the brands, has resigned.



McNabb, 48, will leave on June 1 to pursue other job opportunities, Cadillac spokesman Klaus-Peter Martin said. In the interim, Stephen J. Hill will serve as Cadillac's chief.

Hill, 48, has been the general sales manager of GM's premium channel since 2008. He'll continue in that position while taking on McNabb's responsibilities.

The channel is comprised of Hummer, Cadillac and Saab. Two months after McNabb was hired, GM put Hummer up for sale as gasoline prices soared. Saab was put on the market late last year as GM's financial condition worsened.

McNabb joined GM after resigning as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Nissan North America Inc. He had spent the first 20 years of his career at the Nissan and Infiniti divisions. In late 2005, he left to become head of marketing at Mercedes-Benz USA. He became vice president of Mercedes sales before returning to Nissan in June 2007.

When McNabb joined GM, Cadillac was led by Jim Taylor.In October, he was named CEO of Hummer. If GM sells Hummer, GM has said Taylor would have to decide then whether or not to leave GM.

Taylor, 52, was instrumental in Cadillac's product renaissance over the four years he headed the division. Cadillac will launch two new vehicles this summer: the 2010 SRX crossover and the 2010 CTS sport wagon.

McNabb has "led a lot of positive change here and we have a lot of product in the pipeline and so we're well positioned for the future," Martin said. "It's not good to lose a strong leader, but we have everything in place to move forward."

 

The brain drain continues.

 

Can't say I blame him...

HUMMER and SAAB are gone, Cadillac , at least IMO, is looking like it is moving away from a lot of the progress it had made in the last decade (hope i am wrong here)... and then, obviously, the whole situation of GM as a whole.

 

I dunno about Cadillac. I was worried like you were, but the only thing I recall changing so far is that Escalade may go to Lambda and the SRX has gone to Theta. The first review I read of the new SRX seemed to be very, very good. Cadillac will get Alpha. Losing the GMT-900 for Escalade is not that big a deal to me. I might be missing something....?

 

Yep I agree. His background seems impressive and I'm sure he was highly recruited. Not a good thing for GM.

Interesting how he picked June 1st as his last day...

 

Whats the word on the proposed Epsilon II Caddy? That is something that has me very concerned. Keep the fwd, softer cars with Buick and allow Caddy to continue to go after BMW and Mercedes.

 

I think I heard that was canceled, but things change all the time. That wouldn't really be a step back, more of a sideways one since DTS is FWD. At least the EPII DTS would be AWD also Too bad they never got the Zeta car with a V12, not that it would have sold in any serious volume to make GM money but it sure would have been cool.

I think Cadillac's progress has just slowed due to lack of funds at GM, but I still see progress. CTS coupe and wagon. SRX, even though I know you don't like the direction they took that name, has been getting good reviews and looks very nice. Maybe as a brand Cadillac is stumbling a little thanks to the STS, DTS, and XLR being dated products but they have some good stuff coming out. I'm very disappointed the CTS coupe got delayed a year. I'd rather drive that than a XLR.

 

That's the DTS replacement, and it's still on. It'll have a hybrid version, if that makes anyone feel better.

 

300HP 3.6L+ hybrid, AWD standard and absolutely amazing stand out styling is the only way I'd feel better.

 

 

I guess he just wasn't happy about becoming a government employee.

Calm down, just kidding...

 

Lutz leaves and now the walls come tumbling down.

 

Ah, see that's what I get for not doing my research. I was under the impression that it was going to be brought to market in place of the Alpha 3 series fighter. I'd still like to see them build a proper 7 series and S Class competitor, but Im not sure if Caddy is quite there yet for such a car to get strong enough consideration against those two.

 

somebody start a thread with the names of all the top Big 3 execs that have stepped down in the past couple of years...

 

Or been asked to resign by the White House....