Frederick “Fritz” Henderson has resigned as General Motors chief executive officer.

Henderson (left, in the photo above) was appointed CEO on March 29, replacing Rick Waggoner who shown the door by the Obama administration. Over the last eight months, Henderson worked at reorganizing the company. GM announced that Chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. (right, in the photo) will take over as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.

“Fritz has done a remarkable job in leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change,” said Whitacre. “While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made. To this end, I have taken over the role of Chairman and CEO while an international search for a new president and CEO begins immediately. With these new duties, I will begin working in the Renaissance Center headquarters on a daily basis. The leadership team – many who are with me today – are united and committed to the task at hand.”

During Henderson’s tenure, GM filed for Chapter 11 protection and, 40 days later, emerged from protection with help from the government. On Nov. 16, Henderson announced GM would begin paying back the government’s $6.7 billion loan.

As part of the company’s recovery efforts, GM scaled back to four key brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Pontiac is shutting down and GM found a Chinese buyer for Hummer. GM also came close to finding new owners for Saturn and Saab. A deal with Roger Penske for Saturn fell apart, while a deal for Saab with Koenigsegg also fell through. GM also announced today it has “has received expressions of interest in Saab” and will evaluate potential bids before the end of December.

[Source: MSNBC and Associated Press]

Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg has canceled its plans to buy the struggling Saab brand from General Motors, leaving the future of the brand in jeopardy.

“We’re obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase,” said GM President and CEO, Fritz Henderson.  “Many have worked tirelessly over the past several months to create a sustainable plan for the future of Saab by selling the brand and its manufacturing interests to Koenigsegg Group AB. Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week.”

The news isn’t entirely surprising and has so far been par for the course after GM’s decision to sell its Saturn brand to the Penske Automotive Group fell through a few months back. And just a few weeks ago GM reneged on its plan to sell its European Opel brand to a group headed by Canadian autoparts maker Magna International Inc. GM is in the process of closing its Pontiac brand and is still working to sell-off the Hummer brand to Chinese heavy industry company Sichuan Tengzhong – although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see that deal now fall through.

The move to sell off the brands was part of GM’s larger restructuring plan, arranged as a part of the company’s bailout by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

It is not clear if GM intends to find another buyer for Saab, to keep the brand, or to shut it down. The situation is certain to delay the launch of the all-new 9-5 model.

[Source: Automotive News]

In a surprising move, General Motors has announced that it will begin to pay back $6.7 billion in loans to the U.S. and Canadian governments, starting as early as December. GM wasn’t required (or expected) to begin paying back the loan until 2015.

The news comes as GM releases its third quarter results with a loss of $1.15 billion. That number isn’t good but is significantly less than the losses the automaker has been reporting as of late.

“It’s a lot better than what we had expected,” said company CEO Fritz Henderson in a conference call. “Nonetheless, it’s a loss, and you cannot be satisfied with it.”

Henderson also released a statement in which he said that, “We have significantly more work to do, but today’s results provide evidence of the solid foundation we’re building for the new GM.”

The news comes after General Motors announced its October sales, with the auto-giant posting its first sales gain in 21 months.

The repayment process will begin with a $1 billion payment to the U.S. treasury in December, with a $192 million payment to the Canadian government. The $6.7 billion loan, is however, a small portion of what GM borrowed from the U.S government, with $50 billion in total coming from the taxpayers. The majority of that amount was given in exchange for the Treasury’s 61 percent ownership of the automaker. The treasury has said it will begin selling shares in GM once the 6.7 billion loan is reduced to $3 billion.

“I’ve been asked since we went into the bankruptcy, probably a hundred times, ‘When are you going to start paying back the taxpayer?’ The answer,” said Henderson, “is now.”

[Source: Automotive News]

General Motors has decided to keep it’s European operations after all. GM has announced that due to the improved economy and improvements in the company’s bottom line, it will not sell off Opel and British automaker Vauxhall.

General Motors had been negotiating to sell the group to a Russian-backed group fronted by Canadian autoparts maker Magna International.

“GM’s overall financial health and stability have improved significantly over the past few months, giving us the confidence that the Euroean business can be successfully restructured,” said CEO Fritz Henderson.

GM’s initial plan is to begin a $4.43 billion restructuring effort and says it will work with European labor unions to make it happen. It is not clear if the European Union’s efforts to block the sale to the Canadian held Magna, over a Belgian group had anything to do with the decision. Initially the Magna deal was preferred by the German government as the Candian company agreed to keep most of Opel’s work force in Germany, in exchange for a secured loan. No doubt GM will still be looking for a similar sized loan now.

GM made the decision contrary to its viability plan that was agreed upon wit the U.S. government, stating that Opel is outperforming the assumptions made in that plan.

“This was deemed to be the most stable and least costly approach for securing Opel/Vauxhall’s long-term future,” said Henderson.

[Source: Automotive News]

In the latest chapter of the ongoing sage of corporate restructuring at General Motors, the company’s head of U.S. sales has announced his resignation. Mark La Neve, who became VP of sales and marketing in 2005, has said he will leave on October 15th. La Neve’s position has been in question since industry veteran Bob Lutz was appointed head of marketing when the company emerged from bankruptcy.

“Mark’s going to join another company to pursue an interest outside the auto industry,” said company CEO Fritz Henderson.

La Neve’s departure comes as GM continues to struggle during the worst economic climate in the past several decades. For the first nine months of 2009, GM’s sales have dropped 36 percent.

Henderson commented that the company may look externally for an outside replacement for La Neve.

[Source: Automotive News]

Penske’s deal to buy the Saturn arm of General Motors has reportedly fallen through. Back in June the Penske Automotive Group (PAG) had announced it would buy the brand from GM, along with its dealer network.

“This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality,” said CEO Fritz Henderson in a statement, commenting that the issue was that Penske Automotive Group could not solidify a deal with another automaker to supply vehicles after the contract with GM was scheduled to run out.

Many sources had pointed to Penske rebadging vehicles from French automaker Renault to sell in the U.S., but that appears to have not come to fruition.

GM has announced that it will close the remaining Saturn dealerships and that owners will be able to purchase (hahaha!) or have vehicles serviced at retailers until that point. Afterwards, owners will continue to be able to have their vehicles serviced at a GM facility.

[Source: Globe & Mail]

General Motors has just announced a deal that will see it’s European Opel brand sold off to Canadian autoparts supplier Magna International. The deal has yet to be finalized, but this morning GM announced Magna was the preferred bidder.

The sale will see Magna and Russian backer Sberbank take a 55 percent stake in both Opel and Vauxhall. Opel employees will get a 10 percent stake in the new company. GM will continue to hold on to a 35 percent stake in Opel.

“The hard work over the past two weeks to clarify open issues and resolve details in the German financial package brought GM and its Board of Directors to recommend Magna/Sberbank,” said Fritz Henderson, GM President and CEO. “We thank all parties involved in the intensive process of the last few months — especially the German government — for their continued support that enables this new venture. I’d also like to thank the Opel and Vauxhall customers for their continued loyalty. GM will continue to closely collaborate with Opel and Vauxhall to develop and produce more great cars, such as the new Insignia and the new Astra,” Henderson added.

The deal will see continued cooperation by GM and Opel, allowing the two automakers to take advantage of economies of scale. The cooperation will also extend to projects like the Ampera (pictured above), a European version of the Chevy Volt.

Official release after the jump:

During GM’s product technology even held yesterday CEO Fritz Henderson confirmed that the automaker’s top-tier Cadillac brand will bring a new flagship sedan, as well as an entry-level sedan to market shortly.

The new high-end model will replace the DTS and is reportedly to be called the XTS. This full-sized luxury sedan will be based on the same platform as at the 2010 Buck LaCrosse and will be offered in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations. The vehicle will reportedly use design cues from the Cadillac Sixteen Concept.

The most exciting news, however, comes from the lower-end of the luxury spectrum where Cadillac says it will build a new model to compete directly with the BMW 3 Series.

“We are determined to repeat what CTS has already achieved in design, quality, driving dynamics, performance and fuel economy to grow our presence in this high-volume and highly competitive segment,” said Henderson.

Unofficially known as the ATS, this new model will initially be offered only as a sedan in rear-wheel and all-wheel drive, but a coupe is likely if the sedan sells well.

Additionally, GM re-confirmed that the CTS Sport Wagon and new 2010 SRX will go on sale this month. The SRX will be offered with both a direct-injection 3.0-liter V6 as well as an optional turbocharged 2.8-liter V6.

Official release after the jump:

If you’re a car junkie, Twitter is the place to be today. Ahead of a webcast tomorrow morning by GM CEO Fritz Henderson, the General arranged for a select few media to meet with its PR folks and get a preview of what the New GM has to offer.

Many of those folks have been tweeting on Twitter and so we have a good idea of what’s going on. In a press release from earlier today, GM said that Fritz will unveil a new model during the webcast. The only problem is, the tweets cover so many new models that we don’t know which one it will be.

Some of the biggest stories of the day include a new Cadillac model named the ATS, which is aimed at taking on the BMW 3 Series (yes pulease)! And it would be offered as both a coupe and sedan. Other Cadillac news includes a story we ran earlier today about the new CTS Coupe and CTS-V Coupe coming in May. Tweets also covered a story we ran several weeks back about the DTS replacement being called the XTS and using the LaCrosse platform – meaning AWD will be optional.

As for the Buick brand, there will reportedly be a new model added to that lineup – a mid-sized sedan due out in the next 24 months. This will no doubt the the Chinese market Regal, a story we reported on several weeks back as well.

In Chevy news, those lucky enough to be at the General’s party today got to glimpse the 2012 Malibu, well ahead of its unveiling. Additionally Bob Lutz still isn’t done getting peoples’ hopes up, saying that the Pontiac G8 might still have a life at GM.

[Source: Twitter via Autoblog]

Yesterday we urged GM CEO Fritz Henderson to sit down with his new Vice Chairman Bob Lutz to get their stories about the future of the Pontiac G8 straight. Now they have, and the news isn’t good.

Bob Lutz posted on GM’s corporate Fastlane Blog that the G8 will not live on as the Chevrolet Caprice. In fact, it won’t live on at all. “The G8 will not be a Caprice after all. I’d mentioned it, and said we were studying it, giving it a serious look, because a car like the G8 was just too good to waste,” wrote Lutz, who continued; “But I have to say that, with my new ‘marketing’ hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today’s market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.”

Lutz then expressed his personal disappointment, but said there was just no way to make the car happen and that the company’s resources had to be placed elsewhere.

He then tried to reassure rear-wheel drive, performance enthusiasts saying that, “in no way does this mean we are backing away from performance, or backing away from rear-wheel drive.” He applauded the Holden team in Australia and said that he would like to look to their products to bring another RWD vehicle over in the future, but not now.

Sadly, the G8 will bow out after a short stay in the North American marketplace, an emotional product that fell victim to “further review and careful study.”

How about an apology for getting our hopes up Bob?

[Source: GM Fastlane Blog]