Ed Whitacre has only been chief executive of G.M. for a short time but it is evident that he is serious about the companies mission to build and sell the world’s best cars and trucks. Whitacre says he wants to give people more responsibility as well as hold them accountable. Some of his changes are: Mark Reuss, president of North American operations; Susan E. Docherty, G.M.’s vice president for sales and marketing and Nick Reilly president of GM Europe.

Mr. Whitacre and his revamped management team must prove that they can spend taxpayers dollars productively on new cars, trucks and crossover vehicles. The bankruptcy process, which forced the government to step in and lend it a total of $50 billion to survive, removed most of G.M.’s crushing debt load and long-term obligations to its retirees. It also allowed G.M. $42.6 billion in cash reserves which will be put towards designing, building and selling the world’s best vehicles. With these ‘hit’ vehicles, G.M. hopes to become profitable, and once stabilized will be back on the public stock offering. Mr. Reuss said going public and repaying the government are “at the very top of our desires of what this company will look like next year.”

One of the vehicles pushed by G.M. is the Volt. It’s development time has been reduced by seven months which could have us seeing it on roads and early as November of 2010. Another model they hope will be a hit is a small, rear-wheel drive luxury car for the Cadillac division which they hope will compete head-on with the German car maker’s 3-series sedan. Mark Reuss hopes the car would prove that a Cadillac can be every bit as exciting as the best that BMW has to offer.