Daughter slams GM over chief's dismissal

A woman claiming to be the daughter of former General Motors chief executive Fritz Henderson launched an expletive-laden attack on his dismissal on Facebook.

Within an hour of the car giant's board of directors announcing Mr Henderson's resignation on the social networking site, Sarah Henderson posted an angry comment in block capital letters which branded chairman Ed Whitacre a "selfish piece of shift (sic)".

Her message was quickly taken down, but not before it was spotted by car industry websites and a screengrab of its full content posted on the internet.

It read: "He f****** got asked to step down all of you f****** idiots. I'm Fritz's f****** daughter, and he did not f****** resign.

"Whitacre is a selfish piece of shift (sic), who cares about himself and not the f****** company.

"Have fun with GM, I hope to never buy from this God foresaken (sic) company every (sic) again. F*** all of you."

GM announced Mr Henderson's exit from the company following a meeting of its directors in Detroit on Tuesday.

The firm said it had accepted Mr Henderson's resignation, saying he had done a "remarkable job" in leading the company through an "unprecedented period" of challenge and change.

The company is recovering from a massive slump in sales and is cutting around 9,000 jobs across Europe, including up to 350 at its Luton factory.

Mr Whitacre said in a statement: "While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made.

"To this end, I have taken over the role of chairman and chief executive while an international search for a new president and chief executive begins immediately.

"I want to assure all of our employees, dealers, suppliers, union partners and most of all our customers that GM's daily business operations will continue as normal.

"I remain more convinced than ever that our company is on the right path and that we will continue to be a leader in offering the worldwide buying public the highest quality, highest value cars and trucks."

Vauxhall employs around 5,500 workers in the UK, mainly in Luton and Ellesmere Port on Merseyside, which has escaped any job cuts.