• Detroit Free Press, Thursday, December 20, 2007 2:48 PM

The new, award-winning Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Enclave are the consummation of an agonizingly slow process in which the world's largest automaker completely reworked the way it designs and develops new cars and trucks.

There's never been a shortage of talented engineers and designers at GM, but for decades, the company's processes, politics and management blocked creativity and innovation. "GM now has a hyper-efficient, product-focused vehicle development program," says Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics of Birmingham. Its vehicle-development system today stands alongside Toyota and BMW as the best in the industry, Hall believes.

The changes that led to GM's improved vehicles are now ingrained in the company as official policy. A single executive is responsible for each family of vehicles; each of GM's global engineering centers now concentrates on the kind of vehicles it does best; and the goal for each new vehicle is to be the best in its class, rather than simply hoping to be competitive.

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