GM Ousts Chief Marketing Executive Joel Ewanick

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GM Ousts Chief Marketing Executive Joel Ewanick

Joel Ewanick resigned from his position as global chief marketing officer of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), after failing to meet the expectations of the company.

Alan Batey, vice president of U.S. sales and service will temporarily assume Ewanick’s position.

According to Bloomberg’s report, Greg Martin, spokesperson for GM, did not provide further detail details regarding Ewanick, whose resignation was revealed by the automaker through an e-mail statement.

A source familiar to the issue, who requested Bloomberg to keep his identity anonymous, explained that Ewanick was asked by GM senior managers to resign, after evaluating a sponsorship agreement that failed to meet the requirements set by the company’s policies, although they were satisfied with his previous work.

In connection with his resignation, Ewanick tweeted, “It has been a privilege & honor to work with the GM Team and to be a small part of Detroit’s turnaround. I wish everyone at GM all the best.”

Ewanick made several controversial advertising decisions. He ended the automaker’s advertisements on Facebook before the initial public offering of the social network giant. He decided not to place advertisements during the NFL Super Bowl championship game on CBS next year, after pushing GM to combine its ad agencies and asked television networks to reduce advertising fees. According to sources, GM started negotiating with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to resume its advertisements.

GM recruited Ewanick to join the company as global chief marketing executive to improve the image of the company in 2010. At that time, he was serving as chief marketing officer for Nissan North America. Prior to his position at Nissan, he worked for Hyundai Motor America, as vice-president for marketing.

Daniel Akerson, chief executive officer of GM, had been reshuffling the GM executive team, particularly in Europe, to improve the company’s performance.

GM removed Karl-Friedrich Stracke as president of its European operations. He was assigned to do special assignments and to report directly to Akerson.

Steve Girsky, vice chairman for General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), assumed the role of head of the European operations  on an interim basis. In addition, Thomas Sedran, a consultant who joined the company’s Opel division in Ruesselsheim, Germany, was appointed deputy chief executive officer temporarily.

GM emerged from bankruptcy and reorganized, after it was bailed out by the United States government in 2009. The U.S. government owns a 32 percent stake in the company.

In 2011, GM became the world’s largest automaker by sales, after Toyota Motor Corporation’s (NYSE:TM) vehicle production was negatively affected by the tsunami in Japan and other natural calamities in Asia.

Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) surpassed GM’s 4.67 million sales during the first half of the current year. Toyota recorded 4.97 million sales and reclaimed its position as the world’s leading automaker.

According to Autodata Corp, a research firm, GM’s market share in the United States dropped from 19.9 percent last year, to 18.1 percent during the first six months of 2012.

GM is expected to report its second quarter earnings this coming Thursday.

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