But maybe we're reading this wrong. He said "do not look for GNX." He didn't say "do not look for a GNX." Maybe he's saying there is a GNX and that he really doesn't want us to find it because it's so good.

OK, probably not...

In an exclusive interview with the Aussie hoons at Drive.com.au at the Frankfurt Motor Show yesterday, GM CEO Fritz Henderson said the company was making good progress with a plan to sell the Commodore to US law enforcement agencies. Specifically, as we've reported earlier this year, the LAPD.

"We've been working on a package for police applications. I just think that's going to work. We're pretty optimistic about it and that product will be sourced in Australia," he said.

But, while Fritz was all about the fleet applications, he wasn't geeked about other short term roles for the Commodore. But in the long term? He didn't rule out a wider role for the car in General Motors' plans going forward.

"It's a global architecture, it gives us options in the future but right now you'd say, near term, no," he said.

Holden has been searching for alternative export programs ever since, but in June GM shut the door on plans to revive the car as a Chevrolet Caprice.

It was thought the GM plan to import cars from Australia to US enforcement agencies would meet with strong opposition from GM's new owners, the unions and the Government, in light of the mass plant closures and job losses in the United States that followed the company's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

But senior GM exectuive Bob Lutz played down those fears in a blog on a company website in June this year.

"While the large (rear-wheel-drive) cars may be made in Australia, they are an integral part of GM, contain US-built engines and transmissions and numerous other components, and are so ‘American' in character that I don't believe the law enforcement agencies would have any problems with the assembly origin of the vehicle. Plus, they'll love it," he said. (Hat tip to Ben!) [via smh.com.au]

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

OK, I have some late-breaking news for you from the world of GM, where things are indeed moving quickly, and what I'm about to say is proof.

In fact, we're moving so fast, we're going back in time to, oh, about four or five days ago, when the Pontiac G8 was going away and was not going to become a new Chevrolet Caprice.

And therein lies the news: The G8 will not be a Caprice after all. I'd mentioned it, and said we were studying it, giving it a serious look, because a car like the G8 was just too good to waste.

That's all still true. But I have to say that, with my new "marketing" hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today's market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.

I know that we'll get a lot of complaints from G8 lovers, because I'm one of them. And the product guy in me is complaining as loudly as anyone. But the marketing guy says there's no case. With budgets being what they are for the time being, the resources must be allocated elsewhere.

In no way, and this is very important, in no way does this mean we are backing away from performance, or backing away from rear-wheel drive. Look no further for proof than the Corvette, the Camaro, the CTS or many other present and future Cadillacs. We have a strong lineup of RWD vehicles already and we will continue to have it.

And we have a tremendous RWD team in Australia that gave us the beloved G8, a team that we will tap into at some point again in the future for its expertise and sheet metal. Just not right now.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's New GM 1 and Fun GM 0. [via GM Fastlane Blog]

The comment he gave Autoblog? "We've been looking at it for police applications. As for whether or not it's broader than police applications, I am not a believer in re-branding and re-badging. We've been talking about in terms of potential police applications and we'll leave it at that."

Then, to the two print journalists, his comment was: "No. It's not going to happen." Then, when pressed for a specific comment about "Maximum" Bob's remarks, Henderson retorted in his best "I'm the decider" voice: "Bob Lutz says a lot of things, but he works for me." Awesome. Way to tell off Bob for straying off the reservation.

It seems to us like Fritz is saving his best lines for the non-online outlets, doesn't it? It's too bad neither print journalist actually published this quote as it's SO much better than the Autoblog quote.

As always, you can follow us on Twitter here: @Jalopnik

Despite a denial of the possibility by GM CEO Fritz Henderson, Automotive News reports this morning Tom Stephens, GM's vice-chairman of global product development is claiming there's still the possibility the Pontiac G8 will show up in another GM brand. The things is he doesn't actually say that. But his quote in the report? It doesn't so much say that:

"I know there's still discussions on it," says Stephens. "But Chevrolet already has several sedans. How many sedans do you need to cover the waterfront?"

Hmm, that reads more to us like "I know enthusiasts are discussing this, but we're not going to be doing it." There aren't any more sources they're quoting in today's piece.

We're glad to see Automotive News has shed the shackles of reporting constructs of the "mainstream" media and now has the same — if not worse — reporting standards than us mere bloggers. [Automotive News]

Al Koch is managing director of AlixPartners, a business consulting company involved in restructuring. He was placed in charge of K-Mart, the largest retail bankruptcy in U.S. History, and successfully guided the company out of the bankruptcy.

In order to reassure Americans, President Obama will hold a press conference at noon on Monday to announce the progress. The bankruptcy will involve the Treasury spending another $30.1 billion to keep GM in operations during the bankruptcy, which will give the government 72.5% of the restructured company.

[Detroit News]

In an interview with Henderson, AutoWeek was able to ascertain certain details about the next-generation sports car, namely that it would arrive sooner rather than later (whatever that means) and it'll be based on further development of the current-gen C6 platform, which itself is derived from the C5 Corvette. Henderson wouldn't elaborate too much on the car other than stating that the C6 is already a superb car and that they (GM) aren't looking to radically advance the engineering of the C7. Could this potentially mean that we'll get a C6.5 before a completely new model in the near future? It's likely, given GM's current financial position. We're just pleased to hear they haven't given up on one of the only exciting products in their lineup. [via AutoWeek]

Obviously, our first question would be to ask what truth there may have been behind time-traveling Rick Wagoner's wild claims he's a robot, but after that we'd want to get to something more meaty — like boxers or briefs? Or maybe, whether he uses a mustache trimmer, or gets it done for him.

Actually, we'd ask him about a story we heard the other day. We want to know if it's true that the former CFO once told someone he was offered use of GM's private jet, but decided to do the cost analysis on his own. As the story goes, he found out the best value was actually a coach plane ticket. He apparently took the coach plane ticket. We've got to know if that Paul Bunyan-of-a-tale is true.But what about you? What would you ask?

More about Frederick (Fritz) A. Henderson:

Fritz became GM president and chief operating officer on March 3, 2008. He had been vice chairman and chief financial officer since January 1, 2006.

Reporting to Henderson in his current position are GM's four regional presidents, as well as the global leaders for powertrain, quality, manufacturing and labor relations, and purchasing and supply chain. Henderson is a member of GM's Automotive Strategy Board and Automotive Product Board.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 29, 1958, Henderson earned a bachelor of business administration degree with high distinction from the University of Michigan in 1980, with an emphasis in accounting and finance. He was a pitcher on the varsity baseball team in 1978-1979. He also received a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1984, where he graduated as a George F. Baker Scholar.

Henderson started his career at General Motors in 1984 as a senior analyst in the Treasurer's Office in New York. After holding a variety of financial assignments, he was transferred to GMAC in 1989 as director of mortgage banking. He was promoted to several positions of increasing responsibility until becoming GMAC group vice president of finance in Detroit in 1992.

In 1994, he was appointed executive in charge of operations for the former Automotive Components Group in Pontiac, Michigan, and then became a GM vice president and general manager of Delphi Saginaw in May 1996.

From 1997 to 2000, Henderson was GM vice president and managing director of GM do Brasil with responsibilities for GM operations in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In June 2000, Henderson was named group vice president and president of GM Latin America, Africa and Middle East (LAAM) headquartered in Florida, and in January 2002, he moved to Singapore as president of GM Asia Pacific. In 2004, Henderson assumed responsibility for GM's European operations as GM group vice president and chairman of GM Europe, based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Prior to graduate school, Henderson was a certified public accountant, working for PriceWaterhouse in Detroit, Michigan. He received the William A. Paton Award for achieving the highest score in Michigan on the May 1980 CPA examination; he also received the Elijah Watt Sells Award for attaining one of the top 100 scores in the U.S.

Henderson serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

One may be concerned General Motors isn't taking the White House bailout seriously, but they've learned the hard way appearances do matter. Here's a radical suggestion: no more "Casual Fridays" until you turn things around. The Carpocalypse demands your obedience and neckties.

Also see Gawker's take on GM dress wear!

But we digress. The talks apparently involved several meetings between the General's big bossman, "Slick" Rick Wagoner and its president, Fritz "Free Money" Henderson. On the Ford side of the table was Bill "Willie Style" Ford; and its CEO, Alan "Boeing-Boeing" Mulally, according to the Times.

Ford spokesman Mark "News-hound" Truby responded to Vlasic's determined questioning by declining to confirm discussions between the two automakers, and adding the following:

"What we can say is that we are convinced our best opportunity is to continue to integrate Ford and leverage our global assets...that remains Ford’s focus.”

Hmm, glad to see they're still integrating a company that's been around for over 100 years. Yeah, given that need, you'd probably want to remain focused on that.

But the big question remains — if GM was for a merger with Ford before they were for a merger with Chrysler — does that make them flip-floppers, or just really desperate for another automakers cash? [NYT]

Apparently, GM has been hard at work on a system for shortening powertrain development time. The company calls it RLM: Road to Lab to Math. If you're like us, the first thing you saw in that phrase was "Meth Lab," but we were assured stimulants are not involved. Instead, RLM is marketingspeak for removing expensive road testing from the design equation, first by replacing much of it with laboratory simulation, and finally, by collecting enough data that new engines and transmissions can be designed mostly in a computer (the "math" component). The new Powertrain Engineering Center is the "lab" component in the system.

So why all the emphasis on removing as much road testing from the vehicle design process as possible? Because it's expensive. Our hosts threw out one example of cost savings, citing the use of RLM during the design of GM's new 6-speed RWD automatic transmissions. Through lab testing, they were able to eliminate a third of the prototypes that would ordinarily be needed.

The other major breakthrough featured in the Global Powertrain Center is standardization across the globe, and interconnectedness to go with it. GM has a number of powertrain design centers around the world, and thanks to new integration in the headquarters, simulation data can be shared across all of them. We thought that sort of came along with the Internet back in the '90s, but hey, it takes what it takes, so huzzah!

In fact, much of the Powertrain Engineering Development Center is designed to accomplish things that we thought they were already doing. For example, engine and transmission cold-soak testing. Yeah, they've been doing that for decades, but the only way it was accomplished was by shipping entire cars and loads of test equipment to the arctic for a few months at a time. Now they can hook a big chiller up to a crate powertrain, cool it down overnight, and test it on a stand. We don't know why we find it surprising that they couldn't do that before, but we do.

Of course, the speed with which they can swap components in test cells has dramatically improved. Rather than having to hook each engine up individually in a cell, they can shuttle them in and out using big, air-pressure-lofted pallets. The swap time for a powertrain cell has been reduced from 24 hours to 20 minutes. Plus, 95% of the emissions from the test process are burned up in massive regenerative thermal oxidizers, and 15% of the plant's power is generated by engines on dynamometers.

After the tour, Chairman Rick and a cadre of local politicians pressed a giant red button, starting a soundtrack featuring engines revving, apparently symbolizing the ridiculousness of dedication ceremonies. But all pomp and circumstance aside, the Global Powertrain Engineering Development Center is quite a place, and since we live in SE Michigan, we salute any potential rise in property values it may bring. Of course, we'd probably say as much about a brothel if it were to accomplish the same thing.