GM management shuffle forces executive to switch gears

General Motor Co.’s vice chairman, Bob Lutz, came to the Los Angeles Auto Show primed to talk about the company’s Chevy Volt, its electric vehicle rolling out next year.

But the only thing anyone wanted to talk about Wednesday was this week’s surprise resignation of Chief Executive Fritz Henderson.

Though Lutz gamely tried to dodge questions about the leadership vacuum, by day’s end he had broken down a bit, revealing that the next person to take the job would probably be a outsider.

Henderson was originally slated to deliver the keynote speech to open the L.A. show. But by the time a two-day board meeting in Detroit wrapped up Tuesday, Henderson was gone, having resigned at the board’s request and leaving Chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr. in charge of GM’s day-to-day operations.

That put Lutz in the uncomfortable position of having to step up and make Wednesday’s presentation. According to people familiar with company operations who were not authorized to talk, Lutz adapted the speech that Henderson would have given.

“I know you’d all like the true account of what happened at General Motors” on Tuesday, Lutz said. “I’m not going to tell it.”

But in subsequent conversations, as well as a phone interview with The Times as he rushed to return to Detroit ahead of schedule, Lutz dropped a few details.

Perhaps the most important was a strong hint that an outsider, rather than a longtime GM employee, would be the likely target of the job search, which has already begun.

“The feeling is that when you select a CEO, you primarily want leadership abilities,” Lutz said, acknowledging that someone like Ford Motor Co.’s chief executive, Alan Mulally, who was recruited from Boeing Co., could fit the bill.

“You don’t necessarily have to be a car fanatic,” Lutz said, although he didn’t mention any potential candidates.

Lutz said he was surprised by Henderson’s resignation and spoke highly of his former boss. Henderson leaves after 25 years at GM. He was named chief executive in March, immediately after the ouster of his predecessor, Rick Wagoner.

Because Lutz was called back to headquarters early, he said he was forced to miss a dinner with the national GM dealers council, but was able to meet members briefly during the day.

“I assured them that no matter what happens in the upper ranks, none of this is going to affect our quality and our mission to produce great cars.”

-- Ken Bensinger Say what?

Cars come and go -- as do car executives -- but automotive industry jargon is the gift that keeps on giving. Wednesday morning, Day 1 of the L.A. Auto Show media days, I heard Chuck Russell, vehicle line director for the Chevy Cruze, drop a choice new bit. Referring to the fact that the Cruze is exceedingly safe, topping government safety ratings in the U.S. and Europe, Russell said the goal was a “20-star” car, that is, a car that gets five stars in front, rear, side and offset crash tests.

In the words of “The Simpsons’ ” Montgomery Burns, steepling his fingers: “Excellent.”

The 2011 Cruze -- GM’s ka-jillion-unit global small car, built in Korea, China, Russia and Lordstown, Ohio, all garden spots -- is getting its North American curtain raiser at the L.A. show, and it really does make a very nice impression. Russell, in a refreshing bit of candor, said that management’s goal was very clear and direct: “Beat the [Honda] Civic, hands down.”

So it is that the Cruze’s highway miles per gallon, 40, tops the Civic’s by a respectable 4 mpg (the Civic Hybrid, however, gets 45 mpg on the highway). It’s also interesting to note Chevy will market a special “high efficiency” model of the Cruze, much like Honda used to sell the gas-sipping FE model.

The interior of the LTZ trim-level package on the show stand was handsome and well sorted, the “twin cockpit” crafted of quality resins and fabrics.

The thing has an enormous trunk.

And generally the Cruze makes an excellent argument for itself. Except, perhaps, in the matters of exterior styling, where it just lies there like a starfish.

The Cruze is “fresh, clean and modern,” said Mike Simcoe, executive director for Chevy design. “An expressive design with a timeless sense of style.”

Now that’s jargon.

-- Dan Neil Saddle up this pony

The baby in Ford’s Mustang stable is growing up.

For the first time, Ford showed off a new 305-horsepower, six-cylinder engine for its entry-level 2011 Mustang on Wednesday at the L.A. Auto Show.

The all-aluminum, 3.7-liter engine will produce an estimated 30 mpg on the highway when teamed with the Mustang’s new six-speed automatic transmission and fully redesigned air-intake system.

The new powertrain, Ford says, will serve up the best fuel economy in its class -- whose other members are essentially the Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge Challenger and the Hyundai Genesis.

The new V-6, when paired with the new automatic transmission, will deliver 19 mpg in the city and 30 on the highway, up from the current 16 city and 24 highway on the 2010 model with an automatic.

As fuel economy becomes more important nowadays, sometimes at the sacrifice of speed, any V-6 delivering V-8-like power should be welcome news for muscle-car fans.

Another eco-minded feature from the new engine is a die-cast aluminum deep-sump oil pan, which Ford says will provide 10,000-mile oil-change intervals. That should add up to a few bucks saved on oil maintenance.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles Crossover appeal

The first Kia built in the U.S. at the South Korean automaker’s plant in West Point, Ga., the 2011 Sorento is a crossover that Kia believes has been “right-sized” to appeal to customers who are abandoning traditional SUVs.

Basically, it will be aimed squarely at Toyota RAV4 and Chevy Equinox consumers when it is released in January.

After a busy year or so that included new releases of its Soul, Forte and Forte Koup, Kia is also keeping the younger, family-oriented buyer in mind with the Sorento, a budget-friendly five-seater that can seat seven in a pinch.

Other nice touches in a reworked interior include leather seating on upscale models, large driver-friendly dials and a touch-screen LCD console that sits on a square-looking central stack.

The exterior of the new Sorento has a deeper, wraparound front grille that chief of marketing Michael Sprague described as “very contemporary.” It stretches into Kia’s Schreyer line that extends to the vehicle’s rear and defines the car’s monocoque shell.

The Sorento has independent suspension; multi-link at rear.

The second-generation Sorento has two engine choices: a 3.5-liter V-6 that puts out 276 horsepower and a 2.4-liter four-banger that delivers 29 mpg highway. Both are mated to a proprietary six-speed automatic box.

-- Craig Howie