
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040714
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Short

GM TURNS TO 'PRODUCT GUYS'

Half of the new management team at General Motors Corp. are "product guys rather than financial types" - a change that should help the company rebuild its market share, analysts say.

The team, led by Chairman-elect Robert Stempel, takes control Aug. 1, the day after Roger B. Smith retires as GM's 10th chairman. Stempel, now the company's president, also will become its chief executive officer then, Smith announced Tuesday.

"I think Mr. Stempel will take a very hands-on interest in the North American turnaround," said auto analyst Scott Merlis of Morgan, Stanley & Co. of New York. "There will be a lot of continuity in that."

Stempel, 56, said Tuesday that defending and recapturing the lost share was his top goal.

"There is no higher priority in General Motors than increasing our market share profitably," he said.

Joining Stempel in leadership positions will be:

Lloyd Reuss, 53, executive vice president in charge of North American Auto Operations. He will succeed Stempel as president.

John F. Smith, 51, executive vice president in charge of GM's international operations. He will become one of two vice chairmen.

Robert J. Schultz, 59, GM's executive vice president in charge of the company's GM Hughes Electronics Corp., Electronic Data Systems Corp. and GM's technical staffs. He will become the other vice chairman.

"In a sense, this whole thing is kind of a reassignment of titles," said auto analyst David Healy of the brokerage Barclays-BZW in New York. "It's also notable that it is product guys rather than financial types or marketing types who really have pretty much all the top jobs now."

by CNB