• by Karl Greenberg , December 2, 2009

As General Motors charges its batteries for a national rollout of Chevrolet Volt, the first car in the U.S. market to run entirely on battery power, the car's unveiling Wednesday at the Los Angeles International Auto Show was overshadowed by news of president and CEO Fritz Henderson's departure.

Chairman Ed Whitacre takes the vacant post as acting CEO until a replacement can be found, although a spokesperson insisted that Whitacre has no long-term intentions for the job. Meanwhile, Bob Lutz stays on as the company's vice chairman of marketing and communications. While many inside and outside of the company expressed surprise, many analysts were expecting Henderson's departure.

"I predicted Henderson would be out before the end of the year," says Todd Turner, an L.A.-based auto marketing consultant. "And I don't know why Lutz is still there; that is the biggest question." He says Lutz hasn't had the gimlet eye for product for which he has been lauded.

Henderson was charged with lots of reorganization at GM, including streamlining the company, and eliminating layers of bureaucracy. Turner says that didn't happen. "It all fell through, and where does that leave him in terms of his success?" He doesn't think the company must go outside of the auto business or even Detroit to find a new CEO. "I don't know if that's necessary; there are good people at GM and in Detroit."

Rebecca Lindland, an auto industry analyst with Lexington, Mass.-based Global Insight, says Henderson didn't have the pedal to the metal. "I think that this situation is a lesson in speed. Whitacre expected milestones to be met; they weren't met. Whitacre has set a pace for this company and wasn't satisfied with the results." She doesn't see Lutz departing involuntarily. "[Lutz] is a good on-the-ground sort of guy; the CEO needs to be more an orchestrator; Lutz wants to be part of the orchestra. Even at the macro level, he is still very hands on."

The company has also named Michael D. Richards as general manager of Buick GMC. He replaces Susan Docherty, who was appointed GM VP of sales last in October. Richards, a former consultant at J.D. Power & Associates, was most recently a digital marketing executive for Trilogy, an Austin, Texas-based auto marketing firm.

Chevy Volt, meanwhile, goes on sale late next year in California with other lead markets to be named later. GM says it will use California as a test market for Volt to determine whether the country is ready for such a vehicle. GM says it is working with key utilities across North America to prepare each regional market in advance of the retail market deployment.

Lindland argues that there must be a market for Volt because the company needs it to boost its corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFE). "People may not be looking for more fuel-efficient cars, but the government is making automakers build them, so we have to see new technology developing. My biggest concern is that what we are seeing happening is a push system where government is pushing this to happen versus a pull system where consumers are demanding it."

Says Turner, Volt is extremely niche -- and the idea that GM is putting so much on Volt in terms of creating brand identity makes no sense. "The moneymakers for GM are larger vehicles, and they are running into a huge problem in terms of marketing the brands because they are focusing on fuel economy." GM ads are comparing its vehicles to competitors like Honda in fuel economy. "If it were all about mileage, maybe that argument would have weight with the buying public, but I can't imagine any Civic owner running to trade for a Chevy Cobalt."

But Wes Brown, consultant with Iceology in Los Angeles, says Volt must go full-speed ahead. "They need to get the car out on time or face a PR disaster. Volt offers tremendous image-building for GM and Chevy -- and arguably for U.S. -- innovation. GM has to spend what they need to get the Volt out and have it be a hit," he says.