Management & Leadership September 24, 2009, 5:00PM EST

GM: Whitacre's Way or the Highway

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PRESSURE TO REPAY TAXPAYERS

Not that Whitacre and the board are backing off. Instead, says one GM executive, they are demanding the carmaker bring new vehicles to market faster. One product development executive worries that GM's slimmed-down white-collar ranks mean rushed projects are a real challenge. He and his colleagues also fret that the board's new directors, all from outside the industry, don't yet know how long it takes to get a car from the sketch pad to the showroom. "They are asking us to cut development times by one-third," says this person. "If it's a 36-month program, they want the car in 24 months. It is being suggested that we have to work faster than ever."

Henderson and his team have been pushing back. Thomas G. Stephens, the newly promoted vice-chairman of product development, says GM is already running hard and gets its newest models to market as fast as any other company. Henderson and his team prepared a tutorial for a board meeting in early September that detailed the process of designing and engineering a new car. "We just need to educate them on how long it takes," Henderson says. He adds that the board was receptive to what he and his team presented and so far has been supportive of GM's new models.

U.S. manufacturing czar Ron Bloom and his counterparts on the President's auto task force may not be meddling in daily operations, but they want GM to stand on its own as soon as possible. That includes repaying most of the $50 billion the company owes the U.S. government, plus the $9 billion owed Canadian taxpayers. That's why Whitacre is pushing Henderson so hard.

On Sept. 9, Whitacre, Henderson, Lutz, and other executives met at the Westin Detroit Metro Airport Hotel to show 15 top dealers the company's new ad campaign. After the presentation, say three dealers who were there, Whitacre rose from his seat. Dispensing with all but the most perfunctory of pleasantries, he told the group that he expected GM to start growing again as soon as possible. Then, to the shock of the dealers, who had never before heard a GM executive speak so bluntly, Whit-acre said: "If we don't get this done, we'll find someone who can."

Welch is BusinessWeek's Detroit bureau chief.