Batey will also be a member of GM’s Executive Operations Committee. He had been vice president, U.S. Sales, Service and Marketing, and interim global chief marketing officer.
In a widely leaked development, General Motors today announced Alan Batey as senior vice president, Global Chevrolet. Batey will also serve as the head of U.S. Sales, Service and Marketing for Chevrolet, Buick and GMC.
In a convoluted position that likely resulted from GM insider politics and bureaucratic infighting, in his global Chevrolet role, Batey will report to GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson; in his U.S. Sales, Service and Marketing role, he will report to Mark Reuss, president, GM North America.
The promotion for the GM lifer was foreshadowed last week by the departure of Susan Docherty, president and managing director of Chevrolet and Cadillac Europe after 27 years of service. Before moving to Europe, Docherty played essential roles in sales, service, marketing and communications around the globe. Among her earlier positions, she served as GM vice president of International Operations Sales, Marketing and Aftersales; GM vice president of U.S. Sales, Service and Marketing, and general manager of Buick-Pontiac-GMC. Docherty was selected by GM for a Sloan Fellowship and completed her master’s degree at Stanford University.
Chevrolet sold more than 1.18 million vehicles around the world in the first quarter of 2013, achieving its 10th consecutive quarter of record sales. During 2012, Chevrolet sold 4.9 million vehicles worldwide. Chevrolet was once a complete automaker with its own engineering, design, manufacturing, sales, and marketing as part of General Motors, is still responsible for more than half of GM’s total sales today. The brand – famous for its bow-tie emblem and Dinah Shore exhorting post WW2 Americans to see the U.S.A. in a – was founded in Detroit during 1911.
Aside from a recognition that as Chevrolet goes so goes General Motors, the latest step reaffirms the GM corporate decision to relegate the Opel brand to a regional status.
Batey began his career with General Motors in 1979 as a mechanical engineering apprentice for Vauxhall in the United Kingdom. He has held management positions in the U.K., Switzerland, Middle East, Netherlands, Germany, Korea and Australia. Prior to joining Chevrolet in the U.S. in 2010, Batey served as chairman and managing director, GM Holden Ltd. Operations, in Australia and New Zealand.
