GM's Tom Stephens: Lutz Successor Is a Serious Engineer - and Serious Enthusiast
By Michelle Krebs April 13, 2009By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- The ouster of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner grabbed all of the headlines at the start of this month, but, at the same time, another changing of the guard was taking place quietly inside the auto company.
GM career engineer Thomas G. Stephens took over April 1 for the industry's most consistently anointed "car guy," Bob Lutz, who stepped down from daily responsibilities and will remain a GM advisor until his official retirement at year-end.
Stephens is an executive with no paltry credentials -- and plenty of his own car-guy chops.
Until last year when he was named a GM executive vice president and assumed an additional responsibility for global quality, Stephens -- by every account to which AutoObserver has been privy an exceedingly gifted theoretical and hands-on engineer -- had devoted a substantial portion of his 40-year GM career to the company's powertrain engineering efforts.
But working for the better part of four decades to develop engines and transmissions -- and optimize their integration into vehicles -- Stephens is deeply knowledgeable in all facets of vehicle engineering, experience that will serve well in his new role as vice chairman-global product development.
Stephens is no pocket-protector or ivory tower engineer: He has high-octane gasoline running through his veins. Stephens has been wrenching on and modifying cars most of his adult life -- even now, as the owner of a substantial collection of GM muscle cars of every stripe, including several rare models.
His career in GM's engineering empire began as a co-op student in 1969, and after graduating Stephens took his first job as junior engineer at the Cadillac Division. After various roles in experimental engineering, Stephens was named supervisor of Cadillac's product engineering in 1980 and two years later became staff engineer of emissions and transmissions.
A few years later, Stephens joined the powertrain unit for what then was the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac (BOC) division and was assistant chief engineer for Cadillac's 4.5-liter V8. In 1991, when the various vehicle divisions' powertrain engineering units were combined into what became the GM Powertrain division, Stephens was named director of engine engineering.
Some of the more notable powertrain achievements brought to production during Stephens' various engineering roles included 1992's seminal (and still-in-production) Northstar dual-overhead-cam V8 (whose chief engineer was Sam Winegarden, current GM Powertrain executive engineer-engine engineering) and its interesting design features that included the ability to operate without engine coolant; GM's displacement-on-demand fuel-saving cylinder-shutdown system and clever ongoing updating of the company's legendary "small-block" overhead-cam V8, whose base design dates to 1955.
Photos by GM
1 - Thomas G. Stephens took over from Bob Lutz as GM's chief product-development resource on April 1, when Stephens becomes vice chairman-global product development
2 - Cadillac Northstar V8, circa 1998.
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Mr. Stephens' credentials are impressive, but I hope he is able to marshal and direct engineering efforts with a big-picture perspective that (ironically) often requires the insight of a non-engineer.
Steve Jobs' is the often-cited example: His legions of engineers surely are not superior to those at Samsung and Sony, yet Apple's ability to marshal and direct engineering and development to the correct endpoint is the stuff of legend.
To that end, while GM's business is currently in the dumps, it is certainly not the fault of Mr. Lutz who has in the past 6 years or so overseen the best clutch of products that GM has produced in 30 years: Malibu, G8, Camaro, 2010 LaCrosse, 2009 CTS, etc.
Mr. Lutz' (and Mr. Wellburn's) success in product development in such a short period of time shows as that while engineering is important, it is not as important as superior vision and management. If it was only engineering that was important, then GM -with it's deep pool of engineering and technical personnel - should be a dominant instead of struggling company.
Everything I have stated should be self-evident for someone like Mr. Stephens, but as we have all seen, it is often not. Especially in Detroit.
Best wishes for success to Mr. Stephens.
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