Embattled Wagoner forced to quit as GM boss

By Ben Pulman

Industry news

30 March 2009 11:34

Rick Wagoner has been forced to step down as General Motors chairman and CEO by US President Barack Obama, as a condition of the beleaguered automaker continuing to receive state aid.

Wagoner was meeting with US government officials on Friday when the request was made for him to ‘step aside’. Wagoner had been GM president and CEO since 2000, and chairman since 2003 – his resignation ends a 31-year career with a company.

Fritz Henderson, current GM president and chief operating officer, will now serve as CEO. Kent Kresa, a GM director since 2003, will take over as non-executive chairman. Kresa has already confirmed that more changes will occur at GM, declaring that by the company’s next annual meeting there will be ‘a majority of new directors’.

Now that Wagoner has stepped down, GM is to be given another 60 days to refine its survival plan – the Obama auto task force has admitted GM’s current recovery plan isn’t viable. In the meantime, GM is expected to receive an unspecified amount of additional government aid.

The extension proves that the Obama administration believes GM can be a viable business, while it has declared that Chrysler has just 30 days to form a tie-up with Fiat – the Obama administration doesn’t believe Chrysler is a viable stand-alone operation. If Chrysler and Fiat can form a tie-up, and meet a number of guarantees, the partnership will be eligible to receive a further $6bn in aid. If not, Chrysler could be forced into bankruptcy, along with GM if the US government rejects its new survival plan.

Barack Obama will outline his plan for the recovery of the US auto industry later today.

Rick Wagoner’s resignation statement is available in full below:

On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I “step aside” as CEO of GM, and so I have.

Fritz Henderson is an excellent choice to be the next CEO of GM. Having worked closely with Fritz for many years, I know that he is the ideal person to lead the company through the completion of our restructuring efforts. His knowledge of the global industry and the company are exceptional, and he has the intellect, energy, and support among GM’ers worldwide to succeed. I wish him well, and I stand ready to support him, and interim Non-Executive Chairman Kent Kresa, in every way possible.

I also want to extend my sincerest thanks to everyone who supported GM and me during my time as CEO. I deeply appreciate the excellent counsel and commitment of the GM Board and the strong support of our many partners including our terrific dealers, suppliers, and community leaders. I am grateful as well to the union leaders with whom I have had the chance to work closely to implement numerous tough but necessary restructuring agreements.

Most important of all I want to express my deepest appreciation to the extraordinary team of GM employees around the world. You have been a tremendous source of inspiration and pride to me, and I will be forever grateful for the courage and commitment you have shown as we have confronted the unprecedented challenges of the past few years. GM is a great company with a storied history. Ignore the doubters because I know it is also a company with a great future.

VW Golf GTD (2009) first pictures

By Chris Chilton

First official pictures

27 March 2009 12:30

Volkswagen UK hasn’t even delivered its first new Golf GTi but is already showing us this: the GTD, its diesel alter ego.

Powered by a 168bhp version of VW’s ubiquitous common rail 2.0-litre turbodiesel four it sprints to 62mph in just 8.1sec compared with 7.1sec for the 207bhp petrol GTi and its 136mph top speed falls 12mph short. But with 256lb ft of torque (the GTi makes do with 207lb ft) on hand, the diesel should have the upper hand in mid-range performance.

And of course there’s the economy advantage. The GTI’s 38mpg and 170g/km is impressive, but the GTD rubbishes it with a 53mpg, 139g/km performance. Three and five door bodies will be available, as will the chance to substitute a DSG transmission for the standard six-speed manual.

It doesn’t get the GTi’s clever ESP-based differential but the chunky-flat bottomed steering wheel and heavily-bolstered sports seats (albeit trimmed in grey- rather than red-tinged tartan) make it across to the GTD.

Outside there are silver flashes on the grille in place of the GTi’s red, the lower bumper is the same but with a smaller blackout section and the twin rear pipes are siamesed rather than located at either side of the car, wheelbarrow style. The standard 17-inch wheels and optional 18s are both different to the GTi’s rims and of course there are GTD badges at either ends too.

Really though, it’s not that different. But on the evidence of these official photographs we’d have to say it looks pretty disappointing, more like an SE with some optional alloys than a hot hatch. A Volkswagen insider assures us that, in the metal, it looks just as punchy as the petrol, however.

The anoraks among you might remember that Volkswagen sold diesel powered GTi look-alikes badged GTD in mainland Europe during the 1980s. A handful made it to the UK but with diesel fever yet to grab the imagination of the performance car buyers and power outputs and refinement levels too poor to persuade them otherwise, they weren’t much competition for the contemporary GTi.

This one, though, looks like it might be, not least since Volkswagen is likely to price it at around £21,000 (a grand under the GTi) when sales start in June.

VW Polo unveiled at Geneva motor show 2009

By Tim Pollard

First official pictures

02 March 2009 20:04

VW tonight issued these first photos of the new Polo Mk5 on the eve of its Geneva motor show debut. And the latest Polo supermini is every inch the shrunken Golf hatchback we were expecting – it looks like a Golf the cat sat on.

One of the headlines is that they've cut the kerb weight by 8% over the outgoing Polo. Despite being 36mm longer and 32mm wider, they've managed to trim unnecessary heft through using lighter weight steels at strategic points. The new Polo Mk5 is based on the same VW Group small-car architecture you'll find under a Seat Ibiza.

That means a front-wheel drive chassis and the full gamut of engine and transmission options. When the new Polo Mk5 arrives in UK dealers in October 2009, the line-up will be as follows (all come with ESP and four airbags as standard):

Petrol engines:

Engine	PS	Transmission
1.2-litre	60	5-spd
1.2-litre	70	5-spd
1.4-litre	85	5-spd / 7-spd DSG
1.2-litre TSI	105	6-spd

Diesel engines:

Engine	PS	Transmission
1.6-litre TDI	75	5-spd
1.6-litre TDI	90	5-spd

But a lot of the attention at Geneva is on the new Bluemotion version. It uses a 90bhp 1.6 TDI with taller gearing and hits 74mpg and 96g/km of CO2. And it gets better. In 2010, the Polo Bluemotion II arrives with a saintly 85mpg and 87g/km – thanks to new stop-start systems, further aero tweaks and a 15mm suspension drop.












More space for limbs and luggage is promised Inside. That growth spurt, and especially the longer wheelbase, has freed up more room all round and VW promises an improvement in interior quality. We'll report more on this tomorrow when we pore all over the new cars at Geneva's Palexpo arena.

VW Concept BlueSport at Detroit auto show 2009

By Tim Pollard

Motor shows & events

12 January 2009 05:29

CAR's been tipping it for ages, but today we finally saw the first proof of VW's ambitions to build a Lotus Elise-style back-to-basics roadster. The Concept BlueSport is a mid-engined sports car with the emphasis firmly on the lack of frills – to the benefit of performance, handling and the car's environmental credentials.

The BlueSport is compact at just 3999mm long and that mid-mounted engine keeps weight distribution even-Stevens at 45:55. It's a pure two-seater and can be equipped with a TDI or TSI engines from the VW fold. The car shown in Detroit has a 178bhp 2.0 TDI unit developing 258lb ft of shove, enough for a 6.2sec 0-60mph time.

How clean is it? Well, 113g/km of CO2 and 66mpg sound pretty clean to us. Stop-start is fitted and VW claims a range of 700 miles.

So is VW going to build the BlueSport?

All the signs are that Wolfsburg will build this car. The press bumf is unusually bullish and sources CAR spoke to assure us that it's '80% there'. What's more, this would represent an affordable sports car formula for the rest of the group, with a new sub-TT model on the cards for Audi and maybe – eventually – a Seat Tango.