Robert Stempel - GM Career

GM Career

After serving two years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Stempel joined GM's Oldsmobile Division as a senior detailer in the chassis design department in 1958, later serving as senior designer (1962); transmission design engineer (1964); motor engineer (1969); and assistant chief engineer (1972). Stempel subsequently worked on the team that developed the 1966 Toronado, the first modern American front-wheel-drive car. According to a GM biography, Stempel designed the Toronado’s front suspension and its engine and transmission mounting system.

Stempel joined the engineering department of the Chevrolet Division as chief engineer in 1974 and was named Chevrolet's director of engineering in 1975. In 1978, Stempel was appointed general manager of the Pontiac Motor Division where he worked on the Fiero – which used a plastic-body/space frame technology that became integral to GM's subsequent minivans and the Saturn linenup. In 1980, he was moved into the Managing Director position at Adam Opel AG, the German subsidiary of GM. In 1982, he returned to Detroit as General Manager of Chevrolet.

In January 1984, he was promoted to the dual responsibility of Vice President and Group Executive in Charge of the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac group. He was elected to the board of directors (February, 1986) and became CEO (August, 1990) where he served until he was voted out in 1992 – shortly after a recession when GM had closed a dozen plants, lost 74,000 jobs and lost $7 billion.

Though he suffered a heart attack soon after leaving GM in 1992, Stempel continued to visit the North American International Auto Show and continued to maintain his interest and passion for automobiles and the automobile industry.