New GM CEO Daniel Akerson wants automaker to beat BMW

DETROIT: General Motors' new CEO told employees that the automaker needs to make cars and trucks that are better than those of competitors such as BMW.

Former telecommunications executive Daniel Akerson, in his first webcast to employees since taking over as CEO Sept. 1, said the company needs to go into ``attack mode'' to stay ahead of rivals, according to a worker who watched the speech on Wednesday.

The speech comes just before GM's board meets this week. Directors may set a date for the sale of GM stock to the public, perhaps in November. That sale would make GM a publicly traded company again after a radical overhaul in bankruptcy court.

Akerson, 61, told employees that GM needs to keep competitors on their heels rather than responding to what they do, said the worker, who asked not to be identified because the webcast was not public.

Akerson used BMW as an example, saying that GM's Cadillac luxury brand has to make cars that are better than BMW's 300, 500 and 700 series sedans.

Through August, BMW has sold 139,236 vehicles, beating Cadillac by almost 47,000 cars and trucks, according to Autodata Corp.

In his 40-minute address, Akerson, who has been on GM's board for about a year, said he is learning quickly about the auto industry but faces a large amount of information.

``He said he's drinking from a fire hose right now,'' the worker said.

Akerson last week replaced Ed Whitacre, who was also known for an aggressive style. He fired ineffective executives, starred in GM commercials and led the company to two straight quarterly profits after years of losses.

Akerson, GM's fourth CEO in less than two years, was introduced by Whitacre, who told employees that he stepped down because the company needed a CEO who would be in charge long after the stock sale.

Whitacre, 68, a retired CEO of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc., said he didn't want to stay too long after the sale, which is called an initial public offering.

Like Whitacre, Akerson has worked as a top executive at major telecommunications companies, holding leadership posts at both MCI and Nextel. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Akerson was appointed to GM's board by the government in July of last year after GM emerged from bankruptcy protection. He also led global buyouts for The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm.

Whitacre will stay on as GM chairman through the end of the year, and no replacement has been named for that position.

GM is 61 percent owned by the federal government, but the company hopes to shed that majority control with the IPO.