The guy probably most responsible for the bad business decisions that
tanked GM as a world leader in the auto business has died...Roger
Smith, target of Michael Moore's widely viewed documentary, "Roger &
Me," died after an "unspecified illness" near Detroit (probably Royal
Oak; GM's press hacks wouldn't say) at 82.

Smith was GM's first "bean counter" CEO, not a car guy, not an
engineer, and finished the long, hard attempt by the headquarters
accounting wing of GM to take over all of GM's business decisions, in
contradiction to the "loose federation" business model put in place by
Al Sloan in the '30s, which made GM an inventive and successful
powerhouse.

Among Smith's disasters were Saturn, which turned out to be somewhat
of a fraud to the car buying public, which was promised "no hassle, no
haggle" dealerships, which turned out to simply be an advertising
hoax. Instead, GM wasted the opportunity to truly remake the "GM
culture" but simply extending it to yet another division building and
selling mediocre designs. Meanwhile, while keeping Saturn a separate
division, Smith succeeded in destroying the car, truck and bus
division that made GM what it was by "badge engineering" corporate
headquarters designs and placing all former "division" functions into
a single, accounting-controlled "manufacturing department," with the
exception of Cadillac. Cadillac was still trimmed excessively, which
hampered their efforts to compete with the Euros, the Japanese and
with Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Division. The public got wind of this
really quickly, and, despite accolades today from the auto cognoscenti
in Detroit, Smith saw GM's market share in the US fall from 46% to 32%
under his watch. This wasn't in spite of Smith's efforts, it was
directly because of them. Bean counters don't build cars...car guys
do, and Smith was anything other than a car guy. GM does now have a
couple of "car guys" in top management (Bob Lutz from Iacocca's
Chrysler comes to mind) but they're kept in check by the accounting
honchos and aren't allowed to innovate.

Under Smith, all GM cars were simply "GM this or that," with no brand
individuality in engineering or model offerings. Smith directed the
newly formed "manufacturing department" to use the cheapest possible
drive train components, such as using the inferior Chevy small block
V8 and Chevette HydraMatic even in Cadillac lines, and the tired Buick
V6 for almost everything else. Chevrolet, the lowest regarded of all
GM divisions for decades, was allowed to keep its own engines and
transmissions, while superior power train products from Olds, Buick,
Detroit Gear, Saginaw and Delco were trashed to cut costs.

Wagoner, the current flailing GM CEO, praised Smith for 'preparing GM
for the global competition it now faces.' Pretty words, but too bad
they're a lie. The truth is that Smith started the long, steep
decline of GM that they're suffering today. Continuing the slaughter,
Smith descendents Stempel and Wagoner stripped GM of GM Truck and
Coach, all car divisions, Delco-Remy, AC Spark Plug, Electro-Motive
Division, Detroit (Cleveland) Diesel, Allison Division, Frigidaire
Division and practically everything of value that GM had since the
1920s. Wagoner's hardly any better; since he took over from Stempel,
GM's market share has sunk now to an all-time low of 24%, with
promised hot models never making it to market, instead content to try
to sell rebadged Aussie Holdens as "GTOs" and similar cheesy GM
rebadge gaffes.

Nice going, Roger...hope you'd enjoy Honda, Nissan and Toyota
posthumously eating your lunch...and breakfast...and dinner...and
desserts. You deserve it, as well as having a thousand UAW members
**** on your grave, not to mention the populations of the cities of
Flint, Lansing and half the state of Michigan.