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GM grabs new VP Finance and Treasurer from Deere & Company

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) in a surprise move to many stock investors went outside of internal corporate candidates to name James A. Davlin as GM vice president finance and treasurer, effective Oct. 3. Davlin joins GM from Deere & Company (NYSE: DE).

According to the latest GM media release, James A. Davlin joins General Motors (NYSE: GM) from Deere & Company NYSE: DE), a global leader of agriculture and construction equipment, where he was vice president of Corporate Strategy and Business Development responsible for defining and implementing the company’s strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions. He was vice president and treasurer there from 2007 to 2010.

From the viewpoint of this reporter, GM stock holders should be pleased that the General is looking for the right talent, not just any talent; albeit there are many talented people being groomed within GM‘s corporate walls, One still has to wonder how much influence the government may have had over going outside..

“Jim brings broad expertise and leadership in finance and treasury operations. As treasurer, much of his immediate focus will be on maintaining our fortress balance sheet, de-risking our pension plans and achieving investment grade credit ratings,” said Dan Ammann, GM senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Davlin, 47, will report to Ammann and will lead GM’s global treasury operations, including capital planning, capital market activities, worldwide banking, pension funding and have involvement in business development, risk management and investor relations.

“His experience as a finance leader in other large, global companies makes him well suited to contribute to our efforts to improve our operational leverage, drive global growth and achieve long-term profitability for GM,” said Ammann.

For the record, General Motors (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) is one of the world’s largest automakers, tracing its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, GM employs 208,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in more than 120 countries.

GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 30 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall, and Wuling. The global Chevrolet brand celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2011.

GM’s largest national market is China, followed by the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Italy. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

Stock Chart Assessment

GM stock hasn’t done much since its IPO, except perhaps those first few weeks. Since then, GM stock has trended downward, now to a level just above its book price.

It’s also disconcerting that the Chevy Volt is just plain overpriced. Either the car simply does not deliver enough fuel efficiency to pay their price-tag premium vs. regular cars, even with government subsidies; or the premium price tag cannot avail a reasonable monthly fee for the average household.

A quick look at the general market and you can see GM stock simply being wagged. Wherever the general market goes, so goes GM stock, as does Ford and Toyota stock.

Now a major sell-off that started last Wednesday from Bernanke's FOMC decision has investors sitting on pins and needles. And GM stock fundamentals can’t seem to do a darn thing about it.

GM book price is still sitting there for price support at 19.57 per MarketWatch.com .

Full Disclosure: At time of publication, Sherosky, creator of the auto sector charts for TN, is neither long or short with the mentioned stocks or futures, though positions can change at any time. None of the information in this article constitutes a recommendation, but an assessment or opinion.

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About the Reporter: After 39 years in the auto industry as a design engineer, Frank Sherosky now trades stocks, futures and writes articles, books and ebooks like, "Perfecting Corporate Character," "Awaken Your Speculator Mind", and "Millennial World Order" via authorfrank.com. He may be contacted here by email: [email protected] or via his Twitter i.d. @Authorfranks

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