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View Full Version : Attended a speech by Ed Whitacre this evening...



MrBluGruv
11-10-2009, 10:09 PM
Even got to ask him a question or two when the floor was opened. :D

He came by my campus this evening, pretty major event as this was supposed to be his first public address in Texas since becoming the head of GM in July.


Seems like a funny and interesting fellow, kinda a "silver fox" to put it simply I guess. Had some interesting things to say about the economy and turning around GM. By no means am I a GM fan, I'm a Ford guy and that's been in the blood for a few generations now, but still it's nice to see that a major economic power could be getting their act together and hopefully creating an economic boost in the near future.


My questions to him though? Asked him if he ever saw, given the forecasted growth of GM, that fallen divisions like Pontiac would ever see the light of day again, and if GM had any plans for performance beyond the Corvette and the new Camaro. He said highly unlikely to the first question, as even though there may be a decent niche for some of those legacy divisions, there isn't enough real demand to make it happen at this point. He did, however, say that there are definately big plans for performance R&D at GM coming up. As a Ford guy, I don't know whether to be happy or afraid. :( Best part: immediately after I told him I was an "automotive enthusiast" while stating my name and field of study and before I could ask him my two questions, he interrupted and said "ahh, you're the type of candidate we're looking for, huh? Would you be interested in a ZR-1?" I laughed and said "sure thing" with a huge grin on my face. :D


Overall, I think that even though this whole hooplah about the government running GM, with this guy at the helm it may turn around into a pretty decent company when all is said and done. Here's keeping my fingers crossed...

Mr. Man
11-10-2009, 10:13 PM
Should have told him you'd wait for the Blue Devil or whatever they are going to call the SuperVette

MrBluGruv
11-11-2009, 10:53 AM
lol, well apparently he has quite a few ties to my campus, so I'll try to hold his feet to the fire about my 'vette. :-P

Joe Walsh
11-11-2009, 11:19 AM
Even got to ask him a question or two when the floor was opened. :D

He came by my campus this evening, pretty major event as this was supposed to be his first public address in Texas since becoming the head of GM in July.


Seems like a funny and interesting fellow, kinda a "silver fox" to put it simply I guess. Had some interesting things to say about the economy and turning around GM. By no means am I a GM fan, I'm a Ford guy and that's been in the blood for a few generations now, but still it's nice to see that a major economic power could be getting their act together and hopefully creating an economic boost in the near future.

+1!
I hope that they recover and continue to sell lots of domestic vehicles.
Chrysler, I think is dead....I mean really.....FIAT is running them now!?!?
Too bad....How many SRT vehicles will they offer in the future?....:eek:

My questions to him though? Asked him if he ever saw, given the forecasted growth of GM, that fallen divisions like Pontiac would ever see the light of day again, and if GM had any plans for performance beyond the Corvette and the new Camaro. He said highly unlikely to the first question, as even though there may be a decent niche for some of those legacy divisions, there isn't enough real demand to make it happen at this point. He did, however, say that there are definately big plans for performance R&D at GM coming up. As a Ford guy, I don't know whether to be happy or afraid. :( Best part: immediately after I told him I was an "automotive enthusiast" while stating my name and field of study and before I could ask him my two questions, he interrupted and said "ahh, you're the type of candidate we're looking for, huh? Would you be interested in a ZR-1?" I laughed and said "sure thing" with a huge grin on my face. :D

Too bad that they killed Pontiac...I really liked some of their cars and in particular, the G8 GXP sedan.
I think that it was a big mistake.

Overall, I think that even though this whole hooplah about the government running GM, with this guy at the helm it may turn around into a pretty decent company when all is said and done. Here's keeping my fingers crossed...

In a way I respect GM and I wish that FORD still had a big cube pushrod V8.
I love the GM's "sledgehammer" mentality....Simple, strong, easy to work on, Big torque, and darn good MPG to boot.
Plus....you only have to buy ONE performance cam.