New Chevy Europe boss 48-year-old Susan Docherty.
Barely 18 months after heading to China as the new marketing chief for General Motors’ huge International Operations, Susan Docherty is again on the move, this time getting her ticket for Germany where she will take over as the new president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe.
While some industry analysts were surprised by the move and question whether it is a demotion or promotion others suggest it shows the high regard the 48-year-old Docherty has earned as a corporate trouble-shooter. GM’s European operations are a shambles, the maker reversing earlier expectations of achieving a long-awaited turnaround this year after a nearly $300 million third-quarter loss.
The good news for both GM and Docherty is that the Chevrolet brand is the silver lining in the European cloud. Introduced relatively recently, the brand has targeted the lower end of the Continental market and found a solid niche in the process, becoming one of the region’s fastest growing nameplates with sales up in 11 countries during the first nine months of 2011 despite Europe’s continuing economic problems.
“This is a great time for us to take on the competition and continue to grow our business in Europe,” said Docherty, noting that the Chevy brand has introduced seven new models on the Continent in recent months.
Docherty will take over from Wayne Brannon, who will retire after 38 years with GM. His departure marks the latest move in an ongoing shake-up triggered by GM Europe’s unexpected $292 million loss for the third quarter.
On November 8, Nick Reilly announced he would retire at the end of the year as GM of Europe’s president, with senior engineer Karl-Friedrich Stracke taking over his post.
Two weeks later, GM appointed its Vice Chairman Steven Girsky the new chairman of Adam Opel AG, the troubled heart-and-soul of GM Europe. Girsky served for years as a highly regarded Wall Street automotive analyst, joining GM during its 2009 bankruptcy. He played a critical role in helping craft the maker’s federally funded bailout and, in late 2010, was instrumental in the GM Initial Public Offering.
As for Docherty, she has had a series of high-profile jobs in recent years, including a run as head of the Buick brand, North American marketing chief and, from May 2010 until now, the marketing chief for GM International Operations. In terms of pure volume IO actually sells more vehicles than all of GM’s North American brands combined.
Docherty is a Canadian native who earned two degrees from the University of Windsor – a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Administration with a major in Marketing and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics. Docherty also spent 2004 on a year-long Sloan Fellowship at Stanford University, where she studied under Eric Schmidt, then the relatively unknown head of rising Internet powerhouse Google.
In an interview with TheDetroitBureau.com she described herself as, “a very driven, Type-A personality, but pointing to the changes GM has been forced to make in recent years, especially after its bankruptcy, she said, “we have to do more with less, so the one thing I’ve changed about my leadership style is how I prioritize the things we need to do to generate results.”
In Europe she will take on an operation that is already generating results – especially in contrast to the Opel brand, which has been steadily losing sales and market share. The brand sold a relatively modest 380,000 vehicles during the first three quarters of 2011 – a little more than a third of Opel’s total – but it has been growing fast after less than seven years in Europe.
The surprise appointment of Docherty is not expected to be the last change to come. GM CEO Dan Akerson told the Detroit Economic Club , last month, that everything is on the table, including production cuts – though plant closings and layoffs are difficult to make happen due to strict European government regulations and tough union contracts.
But GM may have no choice but to look for the difficult options, Akerson telling Reuters this week that “We see serious storm clouds, if you will, on the horizon in Europe.”