Former Ford veteran Michael Richards lasted just 8 days as General Manager of GM's Buick division.

Former Ford veteran Michael Richards lasted just eight days in his post as General Manager of GM's troubled Buick division.

Even in the “new” General Motors, Michael Richards has set a record for short tenure, the Buick boss lasting just eight days before being resigned.

He will be followed out the door by long-time GM executive Brent Dewar, who was ousted this week as general manager of the automaker’s biggest brand, Chevrolet.

The latest management roil reflects the heavy hand of Chairman and Acting CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr., who has made it clear that performance is everything, and those who don’t deliver won’t be around very long.

Richards’ appointment as Buick General Manager was announced just before the division’s news conference during the Los Angeles Auto Show, on Wednesday, December 2nd.  He was something of a surprise appointment, coming to GM from cross-town rival Ford Motor Co. Insiders say Michaels, a 27-year Ford veteran, left, in 2008, after a falling out with that company’s marketing chief Jim Farley.

Apparently, Richards didn’t do much better building relations at General Motors.

“We’re just saying that he is leaving the company,” responded spokesman Tom Wilkinson.

But a source, speaking on a request of anonymity, noted that Richards “timing wasn’t great.”

The executive was hired by former GM CEO Fritz Henderson, himself ousted last week, and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.  Until last Friday, Lutz was serving as GM’s marketing chief, but he had that assignment – along with most of his other duties – stripped by Whitacre and given to fast-rising star Susan Docherty, who was overseeing GM’s North American sales operations.  Previously, the Canadian-born Docherty was in charge of the Buick-Pontiac-GMC group.

Brent Dewar will leave GM in April after being ousted as Chevrolet General Manager.

Brent Dewar will leave GM in April after being ousted as Chevrolet General Manager.

No replacement for Richards has been named, though there are indications the company could turn to an outsider for the Buick job, a critical post considering the long-struggling brand is one of just four GM marques left in North America after the company’s emergence from bankruptcy, in July.

There has been a replacement named for Brent Dewar, however.  His post as Chevrolet’s top manager went to 45-year-old Jim Campbell.  Dewar, a 31-year GM veteran, is expected to leave the carmaker by next April, and is temporarily working on “special assignment” to GM’s new president, Mark Reuss.

Dewar was running GM’s sales operations in Europe before being called back to the States.  He was passed over in favor of Docherty for the North American sales position, but as head of Chevrolet, he was in charge of a brand that not only was the maker’s largest in North America, but which has been undergoing a dramatic global expansion.  Chevy is the fastest-growing nameplate in Europe, this year.

During a media webchat, earlier this week, Whitacre was asked how long an executive failing to perform would have with the post-bankruptcy GM.  “Not long,” he responded.

Though it could be argued Dewar didn’t deserve much of the blame, since he has been with the division only a matter of months, Chevrolet sales have dipped 27% since the beginning of the year, while the overall U.S. market has dropped 24%.  (GM, as a whole, is off 32%.)

Complicating his situation, Dewar was also seen as a Henderson/Lutz appointee, which may have soured things in light of the recent management changes.  And insiders say there were clashes between Dewar and Docherty that could have sealed the Chevy manager’s fate.

Could other changes be yet to come?  “Likely,” according to one GM executive, who admitted worrying about his own position.  The only other Lutz/Henderson appointment in a general manager’s position is Cadillac boss Bryan Nesbitt, an unusual – though well-regarded – choice because he came from a design background, rather than sales and marketing.

Meanwhile, Whitacre revealed, during his webchat, that he expects GM to find a replacement for Chief Financial Ray Young within the next “two or three weeks.”  Young announced he would depart shortly after GM wrapped up its bankruptcy.

As for a new CEO, industry observers say the search could take months, complicated by the strict pay cap enacted by the federal government, which holds a controlling 60% stake in General Motors.

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