1fastdog

Any government oversight lead person should be concerned with whether approved action plans are being followed, and keep an eye on the interest of the taxpayers. Specifics? Make sure the loan is repaid on time. Advice from any "Car Czar" should be to lawmakers regarding any barriers in existing state laws are reviewed which will hamper downsizing of dealer networks or shuttering plants without the associated costs of labor which will hamper the return of funds to the taxpayers.

It's my hope that the economic downturn will encourage some dealers to get out, some dealers to add lines which will allow a competitive lineup which can stop the rebadge engineering expense. Chevy, Cadillac, PBG... will work in the context of a profitable 20% of the market.

Eric Bryant

"Bad" finance leadership did indeed get the Big 3 into the current mess - there was far too much emphasis on the short-term bottom line.

However, businesses have to make money in order to continue operation, and to do that, there needs to be a strict set of financial controls that allows management to understand exactly where the money is coming from, and where it's going. Without that, it's all guesswork - and one would want to minimize the amount of guesswork when there's $200B in annual revenue to track!

Go do some reading on Ford's "Whiz Kids" - they provided an excellent example of how to run a big business (at least for the first 20 years of their run). There's a chapter or two in "6 Men Who Changed The Auto Industry" on these guys. BTW, that book should be required reading for anyone who's interested in the auto industry - it's one hell of a documentary of the post-WWII auto industry and the men that build it (Ford II, Lutz, Honda, Iacocca, von Kuenheim, and Piech).

JakeRobb

True. You just need to make sure that whoever it is keeps long term profitability in mind, and isn't just pandering to Wall Street for short-term gains.

Long term profitability, in the car business, seems to involve letting car guys make most of the product decisions.

routesixtysixer

Angus over at Motor Trend thinks Roger Penske would be a great choice... and I agree.

jg95z28

The more I think about it, the more I think we need an idea guy who knows the financial end but is also a car guy.

How about Bill Gates?

TheV6Bird

Jay Leno!

jg95z28

He was joking about it last night, I'm not sure exactly what he said.

He is a GM guy, typically. However, Jay has been known to be foolish with his money on cars. Heck we'd probably end up with a push for steam power.

Z28x

How would that do in the winter?

mdenz3

G.W.B.

He would be very good at completing Congresses bid to destory American manufacturing.

JakeRobb

Probably not much worse than diesel or ethanol.

routesixtysixer

Al Gore....

jg95z28

He'd probably say he invented the Chevy Volt.

Fbodfather

My thoughts:

Bob Lutz

Jim Perkins

Roger Penske

Lee Iacocca

Z284ever

Those are all fine to me. Of course, those picks would make too much sense - so forget it.

routesixtysixer