GM Marketing Chief Resigns as CEO Rebuilds in Slump
By Tim Higgins
Bloomberg
Jul 29, 2012 5:40 PM CT
General Motors Co. (GM) said its head of marketing, who decided to end advertising on Facebook (FB) Inc. and the Super Bowl, resigned as the automaker’s U.S. market share declines.
Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick, is leaving effective immediately, GM said in an e-mailed statement. Alan Batey, vice president of U.S. sales and service, will assume the post on an interim basis, according to the statement. Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson this month also removed Karl-Friedrich Stracke as head of European operations.
The company, based in Detroit, has lost share in its home market after its 4.3 percent first-half sales gain trailed the 15 percent industrywide increase in light-vehicle sales. The automaker, after posting a record $9.19 billion profit last year, also is struggling to end losses in Europe.
Under Ewanick, 52, the automaker decided in May to end advertising on Facebook after a regular spending review. GM began discussions about resuming ads on the social-network website, two people familiar with the talks said earlier this month. Ewanick also decided not to advertise during the National Football League’s Super Bowl championship game next year on CBS.
GM spent $10 million on paid ads on Facebook last year, a person familiar with the spending has said. That’s a fraction of the about $1.8 billion GM spent in 2011 on advertising in the U.S., according to Kantar Media.
Toyota Surges
The first-half U.S. market share for GM, the largest U.S. automaker, fell to 18.1 percent from 19.9 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Autodata Corp.
GM in 2011 regained the title of the world’s largest automaker by sales after natural disasters in Asia curtailed Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s production of vehicles and parts. Toyota surpassed GM in worldwide sales in 2008.
Toyota’s worldwide sales surged 34 percent in 2012’s first half to 4.97 million, ahead of GM’s 4.67 million, putting the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker on pace to regain the top spot.
In Europe, GM installed Vice Chairman Steve Girsky as interim president of interim president of the European unit. Stracke, the man he replaced, remains with GM and will perform“special assignments” and report to Akerson, GM said in a statement earlier this month.
Thomas Sedran, a consultant who joined the company’s Ruesselsheim, Germany-based Opel unit in April, was named deputy chief executive officer. Sedran is leading Opel until a permanent chief is found. The automaker’s losses in Europe have totaled $16.4 billion since 1999.
GM plunged 40 percent since its November 2010 initial public offering through July 27. GM reorganized under a U.S.-backed bankruptcy in 2009 and the U.S. still holds a 32 percentstake.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Higgins in Southfield, Michigan, at thiggins21@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net
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