Wagoner: In control

Detroit, April 5: With General Motors losing its once dominant grip on American car buyers, its chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, took direct control of the company?s North American operations on Monday in an effort to overcome a drought in profit and sales.

Wagoner, 52, reduced the authority of the two most senior North American executives, Robert A. Lutz and Gary Cowger, in a move analysts saw as a sign that his job depends on fixing the company's performance at home. Lucrative sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles propped up GM?s performance in the late 1990?s until competitors like Toyota and Nissan let loose a wave of their own trucks.

?It clearly puts Rick's neck in the noose in North America,? said David Cole, the president of the Center for Automotive Research, a consulting and research firm.

The management shake-up by Wagoner comes after several weeks of bad news from GM, which is expecting later this month to report a second consecutive quarterly loss. GM. is trying to stave off junk bond ratings from the major debt-ratings firms, and its struggles are weighing on the Midwest.

In Michigan, which now has the nation?s highest unemployment rate, GM and its former parts subsidiary, Delphi, are top employers and the engines for many local economies.

?Given the challenges we face in North America, it makes sense for me to assume control,? Wagoner said in a statement. The move, he said, would ?shorten the lines of communication and decision-making?.

GM?s shares, which closed down 33 cents on Monday, at $29.05, are trading near lows they have not reached in more than a decade.