Stephen Carlisle is departing as president of General Motors of Canada Co. to take on the job of president of the Cadillac division of General Motors Co. after the abrupt departure of Cadillac head Johan de Nysschen.
Mr. Carlisle will be replaced after about 3½ years on the job at GM Canada by Travis Hester, who will leave his job as vice-president of global product programs for GM.
GM offered no explanation for the exit of Mr. de Nysschen, saying that he is leaving the company “effective immediately.”
The move by Mr. Carlisle comes after an eventful tenure at the Canadian operations of the largest of the Detroit Three auto makers.
Sales rose to 302,826 last year from 263,335 in 2015, his first full year on the job. Market share stood at 13.5 per cent when he became president of GM Canada and rose to 15.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
Getting GM Canada back to leadership in the sales race as of March was one of the highlights of Mr. Carlisle’s tenure, said David Paterson, GM Canada’s vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs. Mr. Carlisle was not available on Wednesday for interviews.
Mr. Paterson also noted that Mr. Carlisle oversaw $1.5-billion in new investments made at GM’s Cami assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., and its assembly complex in Oshawa, Ont., since 2015, as well as the opening of a new research and development centre in Markham, Ont., that is hiring 750 engineers.
His time was also marked, however, by a strike at the Cami plant last year. There are also lingering worries about the future of the Oshawa operations, although Mr. Carlisle presided over the return of pickup truck assembly to that city.
He also smoothed relations with GM Canada dealers by settling some lawsuits launched in the wake of the 2008-2009 auto crisis and the parent company’s descent into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States.
Settling some of those battles was among his biggest accomplishments, said Canadian industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.
“He made GM visible again [in Canada], which is important for a vehicle company,” Mr. DesRosiers said.
Mr. de Nysschen leaves after leading Cadillac to the second-best sales year on record globally last year, but an 8-per-cent decline in U.S. sales − the second straight drop in a market where the brand’s name was once synonymous with luxury.
Worldwide sales rose 15 per cent last year with sales in China soaring 51 per cent.
But in the United States, such offshore-based companies as Audi, Land Rover and the Infiniti division of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., which Mr. de Nysschen left to join GM, have picked up market share in recent years.
Cadillac has been hamstrung by a portfolio full of passenger cars amid a shift in consumer tastes to crossover vehicles. The brand rolled out a new crossover, the XT4 at the New York auto show last month and has two other crossovers in the works.
“Looking forward, the world is changing rapidly and beginning with the launch of the new XT4, it is paramount that we capitalize immediately on the opportunities that arise from this rate of change,” Dan Ammann, GM president, said in a statement on Mr. de Nysschen’s departure. The change at the top “will further accelerate our efforts in that regard,” the statement quoted Mr. Ammann as saying.
Mr. Carlisle said the potential for Cadillac globally is “incredible.”
Mr. de Nysschen shifted Cadillac’s headquarters to New York from Detroit in 2015. Mr. Carlisle decided to shift the headquarters of the Cadillac Canada unit from Oshawa to a new campus the company is scheduled to build east of downtown Toronto.