CHICAGO, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. automaker General Motors' Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on Wednesday he is sorry to see GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson's departure, and called the timing of the resignation "inopportune."

    "Fritz was and is an outstanding executive, and I'm very sorry to see him go," Lutz told The Detroit News.

    "You can argue there never is a good time for any of this, but in this case, the timing is particularly inopportune," said Lutz.

    "He guided General Motors through perhaps the most difficult period in its history," Lutz said during his keynote speech at the Los Angeles Auto Show. "I think all of us were surprised and the whole General Motors team I think is genuinely saddened over what transpired."

    Henderson's resignation stunned GM executives who had been dispatched to the Los Angeles Auto Show to build buzz for four new products being unveiled at the show, for which the automaker is spending a considerable amount of money.

General Motors' CEO resigns

File photo taken on June 1, 2009 shows General Motors president and CEO Fritz Henderson during a press conference to announce that GM will seek bankruptcy protection at the GM Building in New York. The largest U.S. auto maker General Motors' CEO Frederick Henderson has resigned after only eight months as the company's head, the company said on Dec.1, 2009. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Photo Gallery>>>

    CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- President and CEO of U.S. automaker General Motors Co. Fritz Henderson resigned Tuesday and his job was taken over on an interim basis by the company's chairman, Ed Whitacre Jr.. Full story 

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