Le Roi est Mort, Vie le Roi!
Yesterday, GM announced that Jay Spenchian, Saab North America General Manager, had been replaced by Steve Shannon, a career exec at GM who has experience in GM Europe, and most recently was the General Manager at Buick. I must say that I will miss Jay. He was the most accessible Saab chief in a long, long time, and one of the very few who sincerely understood the brand. Before Jay worked at Saab, and when he first joined GM, he requested a Saab 9-5 as his company car, to the astonishment of his co-workers. His reason? It was the best car in the GM portfolio. Jay's affinity for the Saab and his understanding of its history and clients was a welcome relief from the idiocy that emanated from the office of the last chief executive, Debra Kelly Ennis.
We don't know much about Steve Shannon, but we certainly hope for the best from him, and I would like to wish him the best. Steve did his undergrad work at Harvard (MBA from Columbia) so perhaps we can lure him to his old stomping grounds for a visit to Charles River Saab!