2009-12-02 00:29:55 -

Edmunds.com today comments on the announcement that Fritz Henderson has resigned as CEO of General Motors and government-appointed Chairman Ed Whitacre has taken over temporarily.

“This does not come entirely as a shock,” commented Edmunds.com : Senior Analyst Michelle Krebs. “Ed Whitacre was the government’s choice to lead the company and the Automotive Task Force always appeared lukewarm about the idea of Fritz staying in the top job.

“In recent months, the board and Henderson appeared as if they were not on the same page,” added Krebs. “Henderson wanted to sell Opel; the board overruled, keeping the European company. The eleventh hour failure of GM’s sale of Saturn and Saab likely suggested to the board that Henderson couldn’t get

the job done.”


Henderson became CEO when Rick Wagoner was forced to resign March 29 as part of the government’s bailout of GM.

“Ed Whitacre has a track record of transforming companies, namely turning regional Southwestern Bell into AT&T, the largest telecommunications company in the U.S.” stated Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “His challenge will be to keep GM number one in U.S. sales, pay back the American and Canadian taxpayers and take the company public quickly.”


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Edmunds.com Inc. publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com : , the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value®, : is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Inside Line : launched in 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace : launched in 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site and home to the oldest and most established automotive community. AutoObserver.com : launched in 2008 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.



Edmunds.com Corporate CommunicationsJeannine Fallon/Chintan TalatiMedia

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