General Motor’s head of global manufacturing has resigned from his post after just over a year on the job, the automaker confirmed in a statement to Automotive Dive.
Jens Peter Clausen was named EVP of global manufacturing in March 2024 to replace company veteran Gerald Johnson, who retired after a 44-year career at the automaker. In a LinkedIn post, Clausen said his decision to leave was not easy, but was the right move for himself and his family.
“Working at GM has been a defining chapter — one that challenged me, shaped me, and allowed me to contribute to vehicles that millions of people rely on every day,” Clausen wrote. He added that the “experience has taught me what it means to build not just vehicles, but trust and legacy.”
A GM spokesperson in an email said the company was grateful for Clausen’s contributions. He will remain in his role through mid-May.
Among his responsibilities, Clausen’s oversaw nearly 95,000 employees across 118 sites in 13 countries.
In his hiring announcement last year, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said Clausen’s experience in global manufacturing innovation, engineering and operations would accelerate the automaker’s ability to deliver the highest quality vehicles to customers.
Before joining GM, Clausen held executive roles at Tesla and Google.
While at Tesla, he led efforts to scale production of the company’s electric vehicle propulsion systems at its Gigafactory 1 in Sparks, Nevada. As VP of engineering at Google, he focused on product development and process optimization for the tech giant’s data centers.
Clausen’s successor will be named at a later date, the GM spokesperson said.
