Why Did GM Flush LA Auto Show Hype With An Ill Timed Ouster Of Their CEO?

General Motors Co.'s board of directors, ever anxious to show that they're driving the company's new Caddy, absolutely blew it on Tuesday when they forced out CEO Fritz Henderson. It doesn't matter how it all went down -- whether they asked Henderson to stay on for the rest of the year but he gave them the ziggy anyway, or if they asked him to immediately leave, or some other scenario -- GM saw millions of dollars washed away in lost media coverage of key new products, or at least diminished exposure, thanks to Henderson's resignation on the eve of media days at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Instead of talking about the massive road show GM carefully orchestrated for the Chevrolet Volt that put actual drivable electric vehicles on the streets of Los Angeles, or the introduction of the U.S. version of the 40-miles-per-gallon Chevy Cruze, the buzz was -- and still is -- all about Henderson's departure.

Hear that flush? That's the sound of GM's lost opportunity at one of the most important auto shows outside Detroit.