GM fires Cadillac U.S. sales chief for policy violation
“He has left effective immediately due to violation of policy," GM spokesman David Caldwell told Automotive News, declining to provide specifics. A replacement would be named “fairly soon," the spokesman said.
Hawkins, a 44-year-old from South Africa, became U.S. vice president of Cadillac sales and service in June 2012 as part of a shuffle of GM’s U.S. sales executives. He most recently reported to Bob Ferguson, global vice president for Cadillac.
Before that he had overseen 168 Cadillac dealerships as the brand’s regional director of sales and service for the Northeast.
In a brief phone interview, Hawkins said the matter was “more of a personal issue than a company violation." He declined to elaborate.
His firing comes amid a surge in Cadillac’s U.S. sales, which were up 33 percent through June, the sharpest gain of any U.S. brand. Earlier this year, Hawkins and other Cadillac executives gave dealers an ambitious target of 35 percent growth in retail sales for the year.
Hawkins had worked for GM since 1996, including sales and marketing assignments in the Middle East, South Africa and Mexico.