General Motors picked James Lanzon, its top transmission engineer, to run the company's global powertrain operations on an interim basis while it searches for a permanent replacement for Sam Winegarden.
Winegarden, a 44-year GM veteran who had headed the company's global engine development since 2004, was dismissed last week along with about 10 other GM employees in the United States and India, after two popular models built and sold in India were recalled because of irregularities in emission testing.
Lanzon has been vice president of GM's global transmissions since 2012 and served as a key negotiator in the recent agreement between GM and Ford Motor Co. to develop 9- and 10-speed transmissions jointly. He is also a longtime GM employee.
GM last week recalled 114,000 units of the Tavera SUV with 2.0- and 2.5-liter engines built between 2005 and 2013. The models are built and sold only in India.
Indian media have reported that GM acknowledged that its employees cheated on emission tests on the Tavera, in some cases swapping lower-emission engines into test vehicles in order to pass inspections.
