General Motors fires top powertrain executive; more to be axed in India and US

General Motors fired several employees after an internal probe into a recent recall of its Chevrolet Tavera utility vehicle in India. The word out there is that General Motors US has already dismissed Sam Winegarden, VP Global engine engineering, along with several General Motors powertrain employees in India and the US. Winegarden had been General Motors top engine executive since 2004 and was overseeing the development and production of engines across General Motors portfolio.

We were the first to tell you about the halt in production and sale of the Tavera over flouted emission norms and now just this week General Motors India announced the recall of 1.14 lakh units of the Tavera . General Motors India has already come clean with the Indian Government and has told the officials that the General Motors engineers manipulated emissions tests to comply with government standards. 

The Government of India has already set up a panel headed by Nitin Gokarn, CEO, National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project, to probe into the matter and depending on the findings of this panel, necessary action will be taken. For the time being though, General Motors India is tight-lipped about the proceedings in this case but we will keep you posted as soon as we get some more news on this front.