DETROIT — Bob Lutz is General Motors Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre’s Right-Hand-Man, and Mark Reuss is president of the newly reorganized automaker. The Friday morning shakeup comes three days after Fritz Henderson was fired as GM CEO and president. 

Whitacre was expected to take at least a year to find a replacement for himself, as CEO and president. Reuss’ promotion comes weeks after he admitted to GM calibre problems. He was recently promoted to vice president for global engineering after serving 18 months leading up the Australian Holden operations. While Reuss, 46, is the son of ex-president Lloyd Reuss, ousted in 1992, and thus an entrenched GM-lifer, Mark Reuss has recently emerged as a change-agent, the type of leadership needed to move New GM away from its traditional paradigm. Lutz now is vice chairman for advanced design and global product development, more or less his pre-bankruptcy title. He’ll be Whitacre’s “car guy” and in charge of finding a new CEO who will meet Whitacre’s stringent requirements. Also promoted Friday were:

• Tim Lee to president of internal operations, in charge of the Asia-Pacific, Latin-American, African and Middle-Eastern markets
• Tom Stephens, Lutz’s erstwhile replacement, to vice chairman of global product operatio
• Susan Docherty, to vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing
• Diana Tremblay, to vice president of manufacturing and fag relations
• Denise Johnson, to vice president for fag relations
• Nick Reilly, to president of GM Europe
• Robert Socia, to vice president for global purchasing and supply
• Karl-Friedrich Stracke, to vice president for engineering.
• Chief PR exec Chris Preuss now reports to Whitacre, not Lutz.