Former GM exec Steve Shannon takes over marketing at Hyundai.
The only thing constant is change, goes the old saying, and that has become especially true in the automotive world, where jobs and titles have been changing fast, in recent months, particularly on the marketing side.
The latest round of musical chairs sees a long-time General Motors veteran, Steve Shannon, land in Korean territory, while Marty Collins, a one-time Ford executive has to hope he can remember where the executive washroom is as he heads back to Dearborn after four years with retail giant Group 1 Automotive.
Steve Shannon was a seemingly fast-rising star until his sudden departure from GM, in March 2010. He was serving as the general manager of the Cadillac division but fell victim to one in the seemingly endless series of cuts launched by former CEO Ed Whitacre (and since continued by new Chief Executive Dan Akerson).
The 52-year-old Shannon follows in the footsteps, ironically, of two marketing chiefs snagged by GM. Joel Ewanick, the first to migrate to Detroit, is now the American giant’s global marketing director. His long-time lieutenant, and then successor, at Hyundai, Chris Perry, followed Ewanick to GM last August. Perry is now North American marketing chief.
Marty Collins (right, accepting an award from Motor Week's John Davis), returns to Ford.
Shannon will have to pick up the pieces at a marketing operation in a bit of turmoil. It just wrapped up the portion of its Hyundai Assurance program which allowed buyers to return a car should they lose their job. The pressure will be on to come up with the sort of memorable campaigns launched under Ewanick and Perry that helped deliver a nearly 35% jump in sales in an otherwise weak U.S. market.
Hyundai Pres. John Krafcik declared Shannon a “marketing innovator with strong convictions about serving the customers,” adding in a statement, that Shannon is “a perfect fit for Hyundai.”
Ford, meanwhile, decided not to issue a formal release about a big change in its marketing operations – something TheDetroitBureau.com learned about through members of that organization.
Coming back to take charge as general sales manager for the Ford and Lincoln brands is Marty Collins. If there’s a connection in your memory that’s because the 48-year-old Collins spent more than two decades at Ford’s “Glass House” headquarters. He left the company four years ago to become western regional manager for Group 1, one of the largest auto retail chains in the country.
Collins will replace Hal Feder who, in turn, takes over a soon-to-be-empty spot as Ford’s director of export and growth.
Collins, said a Ford spokesperson, “is a very respected marketing professional, and the lessons he learned at Group One will be very valuable to the team.”