News Dropped this morning on the old AP – and via Detroit News, who says it best: General Motors Co. will announce this morning it is calling off its search for a CEO and naming its chairman and interim CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. as its permanent CEO.

Sources familiar with the matter told The Detroit News that Whitacre will take the top job. Top GM officials said at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month that Whitacre, a former CEO and chairman of AT&T, was likely to keep the top job permanently.

The Obama administration, which named Whitacre chairman of GM’s board last summer, strongly supports the move. The Treasury Department holds a 61 percent majority stake in GM after it swapped most of its $50 billion in government loans.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson unexpectedly resigned on Dec. 1, and Whitacre vowed to run the company on an interim basis as the company searched for a new CEO. Whitacre installed a new chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, who was CFO at Microsoft Corp.

Whitacre said last month he wasn’t planning to stay long-term as chief executive.

“I’m enjoying it, I’ll say that,” Whitacre said in mid-December. “It’s a terrific company, great future, great people. Do I want to do it long-term? I told the board no. But I haven’t defined that. I can’t define that myself.”

But Whitacre did take other steps that suggested he was staying for a while. He moved out of the Marriott Hotel at the Renaissance Center and into a downtown Detroit apartment.

Whitacre has named a number of other top advisers and executives in recent weeks, including new lobbyists. He also named GM board member Steve Girsky as a special adviser.

He also has shaken up long-held assumptions at GM, started holding regular Monday meetings with key executives and made boosting market share and growing the business a top priority. Whitacre had said he was shocked that only Henderson was responsible for profit and loss at GM. He has also made holding executives accountable for results a mandate.

Whitacre has also been candid that GM’s reputation took a hit in accepting a $50 billion government bailout. He has offered a more conciliatory tone toward GM’s closing auto dealers and vowed to repay GM’s outstanding $5.7 billion in government loans by the end of June.

Whitacre told GM executives soon after arriving that he was most comfortable as CEO.

“I don’t know how to be a chairman and not a CEO,” Whitacre said, according to the Associated Press. “I’m a guy that likes to be in charge.”

GM faced a number of hurdles in selecting a new CEO from the outside. One was paying enough to attract a top leader, since the company is under government pay limitations because it got a government bailout.

GM began notifying people of the decision last week, including the White House, but the government had no role in the CEO decision.

2008 - Building the Cobalt

Here’s the official press release:

FISKER AUTOMOTIVE TO BUY U.S. ASSEMBLY PLANT TO BUILD AFFORDABLE PLUG-IN HYBRID CARS

The company was created in 2007 to leverage the design capabilities of Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, founded by auto design veterans Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler, and the PHEV powertrain capabilities of Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ-QTWW), a major Tier 1 supplier of clean vehicle technologies to the automotive OEMs. Previously, Fisker, CEO, was design director for Aston Martin and president and CEO of BMW’s DesignworksUSA. Koehler, COO, led operations for Ford’s Global Advanced Design Studio and created concept cars for Aston Martin, MINI and BMW.

Bob Lutz wants to “shock” the public into believing General Motors produces quality products – shock & y’all. “Lutz is predicting a much more aggressive approach to communications and above industry-average spending for advertising in the days ahead.” According to the article this promise has been made before. We’ll have to see what steps Lutz & gang at GM will take in order to really get Americans back in American made automobiles. Why do I get th feeling Kate Walsh will be driving her next Cadillac in a Victoria Secret outfit? With last month (Spet. 2009) seeing a 45% decline in sales from this time last year, GM needs all the help they can get.

If you’re stuck in a lease, contract, or other legally bonded agreement with a signed document in tow just follow these easy steps (as GM did) to get out of it:
1) Make something many people want but no one can afford (ie: giant SUV’s) when you should be making something smaller and, for example, more fuel efficient.
2) Run out of money after making mass amounts of said product and having it not sell due to global recession.
3) Call your local Government for billions of dollars in bailout funds.
4) When that doesn’t work, tell them if you can get out of this (contract/lease/etc) because it’s too expensive they’ll give you the ok!

According to Detroit News, not even iconic and historic structures are safe. The giant Chevrolet Clock at Times Square will no longer brand a Chevy logo – as it has since the 1930s. The clock underwent an expensive, and major technological redesign in 2007. Estimates have been thrown around for how much all this will save GM, we’ve heard anywhere from $31 to $82 Billion dollars.

According to MSNBC: General Motors could literally turn green as it readies itself for major management and cultural changes that will coincide with its escape from bankruptcy protection. People briefed on its plans say the company is looking into changing the background color of its corporate logo from blue to green in an effort to show consumers that it is leaner and greener, more focused on fuel efficiency and better able to make quick decisions.

Ed Welburn, GM’s vice president of design, is leading a group that is studying name and logo changes, but no recommendation has been made, according to one of the people. Changing the background of the familiar square blue-and-white GM logo has been discussed, said the people, who requested anonymity because no decision has been reached.

Whitacre will replace Kent Kresa, though Kresa will remain GM’s interim chairman until the automaker emerges from bankruptcy protection. In other words, Eddy takes over once GM becomes a U.S. government owned company. Let’s hope the service at GM will be better then the cell phone range for AT&T customers, or the capabilities of the iPhone 3G.

General Motors continues to operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as it reorganizes and sheds “unwanted assets” – ie: Hummer, Saturn, etc.

The official announcement came at 7:57 am today to the New York Bankruptcy Court with the hopes of a rather quick 60 to 90 day turnaround. Chrysler LLC (now the Chrysler Group LLC) was approved for their Ch. 11 procedures fast, with Fiat taking over major ownership of that company. The 100 year old auto maker will now begin shedding most financial liabilities

General motors also GM disclosed the names of 13 plants it will close by the end of next year, dropping the number of assembly lines from 47 to 34, from Michigan to parts centers in Boston, Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Fla.

With a listed $82.3 billion in assets and $172.8 billion in debts let’s keep our fingers crossed that Chevrolet can continue to stake a claim under the GM flag, and that not too many working class jobs are lost.

Michigan Senator Carl Levin is at the forefront of this suggestion – he feels it would be in the best interest of both General Motors, Chrysler and the Detroit automotive industry to have the Federal Government play a roll in aiding this major merger. Levin did not have any specifics about what department(s) could help the buy out joining of these two automotive giants, but he feels no deal this large should be done with only business owners: “No other country in the world would stand by and watch major corporations go under this way without trying to do something about it.”

Hopes are the Feds can step in with additional job training in hopes that an abundance of employment won’t be lost if and when the companies come together. Michigan (and the Midwestern auto industry in general) is already struggling from massive lay offs and assembly live closures.

With the Chevy Camaro making it’s rebirth by 2010, and the addition of a possible Cerberus partial ownership – maybe Chevy fans will be able to throw a Dodge HEMI engine inside the beloved Camaro sports car. With GM creating all the vehicles for Transformers films, could we expect to see Jeep Liberty Decepticons?

One concern is the struggling pickup and SUV market – what will become of the Chevy Silverado or Dodge Durango? Will the Chrysler Caravan and Chevrolet Uplander become one? The Uplavan?As with any corporate merger, job slashing and production cuts are to be expected. Recently, General Motors terminated 2500 truck shop employees at one of their Michigan plants. If these two giants become one, we could see the beginning of an ugly employment situation.