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Rob McEniry came to Mitsubishi after time everywhere from Holden to Saab and Dunlop, and has done a great job through the wind-down of local production in Adelaide.
The stories of Rob McEniry and Allan Batey are very different.
Yet they are partly the same, as each is walking away from the top job at a major Australian car brand. Batey is heading from GM Holden to Chevrolet in the USA, while McEniry is finishing at Mitsubishi to move into semi-retirement.
I wish them well, but both will be missed. Each has a big brain, a sharp wit and a nimble mind, although Batey is still accelerating in his career with GM while McEniry has been ground down by the dramas at Mitsubishi. McEniry came to Mitsubishi after time everywhere from Holden to Saab and Dunlop, and has done a great job through the wind-down of local production in Adelaide. It's been tough but he has done it well, also leading the company back to profit.
Big Rob has been statesmanlike, mature and focussed on the end game. He can have a laugh but he also knows how to get things done. Yes, McEniry turned the lights out at Mitsubishi but the company would be doing far worse today without him.
As for Batey, he inherited the top job at Holden when Mark Reuss was kicked upstairs in Detroit. At first people worried he was just a white-shoe salesman who worked well as the sidekick to the boss. But he has boomed since becoming chairman and shown strength, commitment and courage.
Alright, he has the Reuss plan in his top drawer. But Batey is one of the team - including public affairs honcho Jason Laird, who is now also in Detroit - who wrote it in the first place.
So McEniry and Batey are gone and I have a few questions. I wonder if Kevin Wale will return from GM China to the top job at Fishermans Bend, which will be best for him and the company, and if a Japanese bureaucrat can possibly keep Mitsubishi on the right track without McEniry providing the vision.
And now comes news from the USA that Bob Lutz, the grizzled old GM product warhorse, is also retiring. So I have even more questions . . .
