GM Holden Chief Dorizas Resigns Eight Months Into Job

General Motors announces the sudden resignation of GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Gerry Dorizas just eight months after taking the job.

A statement says only that Dorizas, the fifth boss in six years to leave the Detroit automaker’s Australian subsidiary, quit “to pursue other opportunities, effective immediately.”

He had replaced Mike Devereux in February.

Executive Vice President and President of GM International Stefan Jacoby issues a statement reassuring GM’s Australian customers: “General Motors is 100% committed to the Holden brand and its long-term success in Australia.

“We’re focused on winning with customers in Australia and New Zealand, and are moving quickly to name the right leader to drive our brand and business to the next level. The foundation has been built to transform GM Holden in Australia, and we are determined to maintain momentum to continue to push towards our strategic objectives.”

GM Holden Chief Financial Officer Jeff Rolfs takes over as interim managing director while the automaker looks for a replacement. The 22-year industry veteran arrived in Australia six months ago after a previous stint as vice president-finance and chief financial officer at GM Canada.

The Greece-born Dorizas was hired from Volkswagen India. He previously worked for Mercedes-Benz, Fiat and Hyundai.

He was the first person in decades to be hired from outside GM to head the Australian operation. The previous eight GM Holden chiefs had come from GM operations in North America, Britain and Germany.

Jacoby says Dorizas took the reins of GM Holden at a difficult period and implemented a number of measures to transition the business to a national sales company when domestic manufacturing ceases at the end of 2017.

“We thank Gerry for his contribution to GM Holden and wish him well in his future endeavors,” Jacoby says.

News Corp. Australia reports that behind the scenes, Dorizas was blaming dealers for the company’s woes.

“In one of his so-called motivational speeches to the dealer network, he told them to sell more cars,” the newspaper group reports. “The dealers…continued to slave away selling a model lineup that has been left largely unchanged over the past few years.”

Dorizas made a splash when, only a month into the job, he declared GM Holden would reclaim the title of Australia’s No.1 automaker and topple Toyota by 2020.

At the time GM Holden sales were at a 20-year low and the brand hadn’t topped the sales charts for 11 years. Toyota continues to dominate the Australian market.

News Corp. reporter Joshua Dowling writes GM Holden dealers don’t deserve the blame for the company’s predicament.

“They deserve a medal, because without their tireless efforts with an aging product range Holden would be in much worse shape than it is today,” he says.

“Holden has a handful of ‘new’ cars coming next year; but they’re simply rebadged versions of selected Opel models that were withdrawn from sale last year after just 11 months,” Dowling writes. “Another monumental General Motors misstep.”

GM Holden won’t be receiving any new-from-the-ground-up cars until early 2016 when the new Captiva is due to arrive, ahead of the imported version of the second-generation Cruze sedan.

“In the meantime, Holden dealers will be pushing out the same metal it has been trying to move for the past few years – against competition with newer models and a more diverse range,” Dowling says.

GM Holden sales are up 1.3% year-to-date in a market that is down 2%.