Robert Stempel

FORMER General Motors chairman and CEO Robert Stempel – an engineer whose list of credits include helping to create the mass production catalytic converter and igniting GM’s interest in electrified cars – has died in Florida, aged 77.

The renowned “car guy” and career GM man also helped to develop the landmark front-wheel-drive Oldsmobile Toronado coupe – the forerunner of many front-drive GM cars – in the 1960s.

But Mr Stempel is best known for taking the GM helm during one of the bleakest periods in the company’s history, after the company racked up billions of dollars in debt and came perilously close to bankruptcy in the recession of the early 1990s.

In the end, he was forced out by fellow directors in 1992 after just two years, a move seen by many as a classic scapegoat manoeuvre to help convince the world that things were changing at The General.

Mr Stempel was born in New Jersey in 1933, and after gaining a degree in mechanical engineering, joined GM in 1958.

He worked his way up through the ranks to become general manager of Pontiac in 1978, and was then sent off to Europe to look after Opel in 1980.

Following that, he did stints in the chair at Chevrolet and the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac division in quick succession, earning a seat on the GM board in 1984.

With unlucky timing, he replaced long-time GM boss Roger Smith as CEO and chairman in August 1990, and was left to manage a debt-laden GM and its shrinking market share just as Iraq invaded Kuwait, plunging an already shaky world economy into recession.

During his tenure, Mr Stempel put GM on its path to electrified vehicles by encouraging the battery research, the development of the EV1 electric car prototype and GM’s successful SunRaycer entry into the World Solar Car Challenge in Australia.

A long-time believer that the motor industry’s days of running on fossil fuels were numbered, Mr Stempel pursued his interest in electric vehicle technology by serving on the boards of two American battery development companies after departing GM in 1992.

GM paid tribute to Mr Stempel in a brief statement overnight, saying he “admirably led the company during very difficult times in the early 1990s”.

“Bob was a very popular chairman with employees, and his many accomplishments as a visionary engineer included leading the development of the catalytic converter, one of the great environmental advancements in auto history,” it said.

“His knowledge of battery development led to the push for the EV1 electric car, and Bob continued to build his expertise in the electrification of the automobile after he left GM in 1992.”

By Ron Hammerton

‘Car guy’: Former GM chairman and CEO Robert Stempel had died, aged 77.