Corvette Engineer Dave Hill To Retire

[Guest Josh]

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. announced today that David Hill, currently GM vehicle chief engineer (VCE) for Corvette and vehicle line executive (VLE) for performance cars, will retire effective Jan. 1, 2006 after more than 41 years of dedicated service. Tom Wallace willreplace Hill as vehicle line executive – performance cars and vehicle chief engineer for the Corvette. Additionally, he will assume responsibilities for compact rear-wheel-drive performance cars including Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. Wallace currently is VLE for small/midsize trucks. Lori Queen, currently VLE compact cars and the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky , is appointed VLE for small/midsize trucks, replacing Tom Wallace. “David Hill has taken the Corvette to heights that few of us can imagine. In terms of performance, refinement and value, he has truly helped to make Corvette second to none. Dave is a true car guy who will take his rightful place among the legends of Corvette lore,” said Bob Lutz, General Motors vice chairman, global product development. “What do you do to replace a guy like Dave? You do your best to get another one. Tom Wallace also is a car guy and racer who will make a perfect choice to lead the Corvette and Performance team. Besides, Tom was Dave’s choice too. That should tell you all you need to know,” Lutz concluded. Hill has a rich history with GM since joining Cadillac Motor Car Division in 1964. He moved through various engineering positions and was named an executive in 1979. In 1982, he was named chief engineer of the Cadillac Allante. Following the introduction of the Northstar engine in 1992 in the two seat luxury roadster, Hill assumed chief engineer responsibilities for the Cadillac Deville and Concours. Hill was named in 1993 as chief engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette, only the third chief engineer for the sports car in the vehicle’s 53-year history. In 1995, Hill was named vehicle line executive for performance cars and led the development of the fifth generation Corvette and the introduction of the Cadillac XLR. Last year, Hill launched the latest sixth generation Corvette followed by the introduction of the new 505 bhp Corvette Z06 for 2006. Hill holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan . Wallace has been with GM since 1966 when he joined Buick Motor Division in Flint , Mich. He was named to an executive engineering position in 1980 while still with Buick and was later named to the GM Truck Group in 1995. Wallace holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Kettering University (formerly GMI), and is a Sloan Fellow, earning a master’s in business administration from Stanford University . Wallace and his team were responsible for the development and launch of Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Chevrolet Colorado , GMC Canyon and Chevrolet SSR. Additionally, he led the highly successful launch of the Saab 9-7X and the HUMMER H3. An avid performance car enthusiast, Wallace has enjoyed competing in both amateur and professional road racing, rally car and drag racing. He started racing with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) more than 30 years ago and has raced in a variety of Sedan and GT classes with race-prepped Oldsmobile, Buick and Chevrolet models. Queen received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University (formerly GMI). She recently led the launches of some of GM’s most successful products currently in the market: Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, Saturn ION, the Pontiac Solstice and the soon to be released Saturn Sky. Queen has been with GM since 1974 and has held numerous Engineering positions, including vehicle chief and VLE assignments for both cars and trucks. General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader since 1931. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 325,000 people around the world. It has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in 200 countries. In 2004, GM sold nearly 9 million cars and trucks globally, up 4 percent and the second-highest total in the company’s history. GM’s global headquarters are at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit . More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

[G. David Felt]

Be interesting to see if we go forwards with the current body style or go back to the old stiyle...

[SilvaChris1]

Why would we take a step back to the old style?

[Ultra Magnus]

Three cheers for a guy who did a great job with the Vette.

[goblue1999]

If only all of GM's platforms had as passionate and single minded champion. Thank you Dave!

[vanquish25]

41 years, thats incredible. He has done a fantastic job on the Corvette especially the Z06!

[Fah-King-Cool]

41 years, thats incredible. He has done a fantastic job on the Corvette especially the Z06!

[post="35259"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

most definatly, Dave Hill and John Moss 2 of GM's True Gear Heads.

[Diognes56]

Three cheers for a guy who did a great job with the Vette.

[post="35163"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

:metal: :metal: :metal:

David

[prinzSD]

3 cheers to dave Hill for making the Vette a respected name once more. This new guy though with his experience that seems to be heavy on the truck side has me worried about the future for the Vette.

[evok]

Dave was forced out because of personality confilicts with Chief of Chief Engineer Terry Woychowski during a recent reorg. The Corvette stove pipe is over. What that means to the future of the Vette is a question mark. But Dave's hands off the Vette empire is over and the Vette team is just like every other program at the General.

[The O.C.]

Dave was forced out because of personality confilicts with Chief of Chief Engineer Terry Woychowski during a recent reorg.  The Corvette stove pipe is over.  What that means to the future of the Vette is a question mark.  But Dave's hands off the Vette empire is over and the Vette team is just like every other program at the General.

[post="38532"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

GM and their outdated bureacracy continues to amaze me......sure glad I snagged my '06 C6 before it all goes to hell-and-a-hand-basket....

:unsure:

[Team ZR-1]

IMHO, Let's see When Hill was in the caddie group in 1980's the quality went in the dumps When he took over Corvette most Team Corvette guys either quit or transferred out When Hill showed up tests were done in a way to make it look like the pushrod was better then the LT-5 and killed off the ZR-1 The C5 has been a mess, quality low, failures high and most failures such as battry leaking acid onto electronics, clutch pedals sticking to the floor, transaxle leaking, etc never got fixed in any C5 model year Even the C6 has the same failures and more. C6, hmm supposted to be next generation when its nothing more then a warmed over C5. Z06, well C5 Z06 claimed its higher price was due to its performance where the base C6 has same or better performance and costs less saying all those who bought a Z06 are now told their car is the same worth as base C6. New Z06 - same game as they played with the ZR-1 where the car lists for $65.000 and dealers are allowed to charge over $100,000 that looks mostly like a C6 that is $30,000 less in cost Good deal hill is a goner, from his BS hype to firing the Amercian drivers for the C5R and replacing them with non Amercian drivers and for me I got his number way back in 1995 when he told me that I was weird in buying a new ZR-1 and racing it for he said "people buy a Corvette to carshow them and your not a normal. They also voided the whole cars warranty because as they stated I drag raced the car 2 times and used redline fluids in the ZF trannie. I know for a fact the ZR-1 was ready to meet the 1996 smog requirements since I knew the guys at Lotus and they had everything done yet Hill's claim ZR-1 was killed off since it would not meet EPA for 1996. Look at the C6, failing electronics, undersized battry systems, car not starting when gas pumps have pass keys for auto paying, transaxle cases breaking apart, piston slap, lots of MN6 trannie gear failures, etc, etc Yea, bye bye hill, glad to see you go and maybe if Corvette nameplate continues we can get back to our roots.