GM's Ed Whitacre meets the press in Web chat

General Motors' new front man, Ed Whitacre, remains a bit of an elusive figure in the car world. But at the very least, the former telecom honcho who's now the leader of the nation's largest automaker does like cars.

“Oh yes,” he answered in response to that question during a Web chat on Tuesday, one of his first interactions with the media so far in his tenure at the helm of GM. Whitacre was named chairman of the carmaker this summer, and he took over as CEO after Fritz Henderson stepped down last week.

Whitacre backed up his car-guy pedigree by noting that he drives a Cadillac CTS-V. He bought a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe before joining the GM board and also has a 2005 Chevy Avalanche and a 2005 GMC Yukon XL.

“Too many vehicles for one guy, huh?” he quipped during the Web chat.

Whitacre has wasted little time putting his stamp on GM, elevating Mark Reuss to North American president and Susan Docherty to vice president of sales and marketing last week.

Whitacre weighed in on a number of topics during his Internet session on Tuesday afternoon, including the future of vice chairman Bob Lutz, whose duties were scaled back to an advisory role as part of the management shake-up.

“Bob is vice chairman . . . his role has changed a bit . . . he is senior advisor to me and top [management],” Whitacre said. “We look forward to learning a lot from him . . . you'll have to ask him when he's going to retire.”

The GM CEO also said the auto task force has been hands-off since the carmaker exited bankruptcy, usually checking in about once a week. But he said he'll keep his own executives on a short leash and said that he isn't planning on hiring a COO.

Whitacre also said he has “a real good candidate” for CFO and could have news in two or three weeks about a replacement for Ray Young. GM hasn't officially said Young is leaving the position, though it's been widely reported.

Whitacre had no update on the potential sale of Saab, saying GM is in talks with “a couple of interested parties.” The company has a self-imposed deadline to resolve the issue by the end of the month. A deal to sell Saab to a group led by Swedish supercar-maker Koenigsegg recently unraveled.

In other news:

-- GM has no new job cuts planned.

-- The automaker could pay back all of its government loans at once, as opposed to making payments.

-- On when he'll meet the media for live interviews, Whitacre said, “I've been on the job for four days. I'll do it as soon as I feel comfortable and have enough clear air and time. I promise we'll talk soon.”

-- On public opinion: “It's very important . . . maybe

No. 1.”

By Greg Migliore