General MotorsGMUnited States of America, 1998 > present8 models
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has been having business problems in Europe, but now it appears that its corporate culture may be problematic as well. Over the weekend, it suddenly fired its global marketing chief Joel Ewanick, and David Lyon who had been pegged to take over as the head of design at GM of Europe has decided not to take the position. 

The situation with Ewanick is by far the weirder of the two. GM's press release was brief. The main portion read:  "Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick has elected to resign effective immediately. Alan Batey, vice president, U.S. Sales and Service, will assume the role of global chief marketing officer on an interim basis."

"He failed to meet the expectations the company has of an employee," said GM spokesman Greg Martin.

From there the press release just gives a list of Ewanick's previous work. He had worked at GM for the past two years and had previously worked at NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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, HyundaiHyundaiRepublic of Korea, 1967 > present79 models
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and PorschePorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
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. 

What makes this especially weird is that Ewanick was at the very beginning of spearheading Cadillac'sCadillacUnited States of America, 1902 > present79 models
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new ATSCadillac ATS 2.0 Turbo DI...United States of America, 2013 > present14 photos
sedan. He did an interview on the Autoline After Hours podcast just two weeks ago and had big plans for the future of GM marketing and had installed his own people as the heads of marketing for GM's regions. It is clear that this was very unexpected and clearly something happened behind the scenes. It might take some time to figure out what. 

On the other end, Lyon had already been hired to take over GM design in Europe, especially at OpelOpelGermany, 1863 > present85 models
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. With all of the financial problems happening there, it is understandable that he might not want to move from the US to Germany to take over a division that could be sold in a few years. He was escorted from the premises at GM on Thursday.

“Effective immediately, David Lyon is no longer an employee of General Motors Corporation,” said Ed Welburn, GM Vice President of Global Design. 

Lyon began working for GM in the early 90s. He has had roles at OldsmobileOldsmobileUnited States of America, 1897 > 200425 models
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, Cadillac, BuickCadillacUnited States of America, 1902 > present79 models
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and ChevroletChevroletUnited States of America, 1911 > present82 models
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. 

In addition to this, Karl-Friedrich Stracke the CEO of Opel and head of GM of Europe stepped down a few weeks ago. 

Source: Autoblog, Autoblog Germany and Car and Driver