General Motors Co.’s share price up, engineering unit’s chief Calabrese to depart

The largest auto manufacturer in the U.S., General Motors Co. made an official statement, announcing that the Vice President of its global vehicle engineering division Mr. John Calabrese will retire. According to the companys statement, the reorganization will include splitting the engineering division into two separate units and doubling the number of investigators in response to a small-car recall that was linked to the death of at least 13 people.

The new divisions will be called Global Product Integrity and Global Vehicle Components and Subsystems. The duties of the former Vice President Calabrese will be distributed to his successors –Ken Morris and Ken Kelzer, who are going to manage the two newly formed organizations.

The company already revealed that it intends to more than double a team of safety investigators in the engineering unit. This decision has been made after the company faced scrutiny and criticism for the ignition switch defect that caused the withdrawal of General Motors vehicles from the market and was linked to the death of 13 Americans.

General Motors Co. announced in its statement that Mr. Calabrese is leaving the company due to retirement after more than three decades of working there. The Executive Vice President of the companys global product development unit – Mr. Mark Reuss – said that the reorganization measures taken by General Motors aim to result in more clarity and accountability.

As reported by Bloomberg, Mr. Reuss commented on a conference call: “Just an organizational change is not going to solve everything. We have to have the right people with the organization with the right leadership and with the right processes in place.” Mr. Reuss also added: “John was on the team that helped us power through getting the parts into production.”

Mr. Reuss declined to discuss if the reason for Mr. Calabreses leave was related to the recent recalls General Motors faced, saying that he “couldnt discuss the companys ongoing investigation.”

General Motors Co. was 0.74% up to close at 34.23 per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +17.03%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 18 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co. have a median target of 45.00, with a high estimate of 50.00 and a low estimate of 32.00. The median estimate represents a +31.46% increase from the last price of 34.23.