General Motors has recently announced their newly appointed regional premium brands director. Mohammed Hmeid was chosen as the new premium brands editor and expected to bring some fresh ideas and perspective in marketing the different brands of the automaker.

Hmeid joins General Motors in early 2006 and previously held a position as product and portfolio planning manager & new business development. While at the position he acted as the key representative for the Middle East and was in charge of product planning, business and organization as well as managing different types of product portfolio which includes leading and managing the Armoured Vehicle project sales, aftersales and marketing through effective implementation.

Hmeid in his new role as regional premium brands director, he will be responsible for various marketing activities, aftersales and dealer support of various GM brands like Cadillac, Saab and HUMMER. For this year his main focus is to effectively re-launch the Saab brand in the region. He will also make sure that customers will be able to get the ultimate ownership experience out from owning Cadillac, Saab and HUMMER. He is also to focus on expanding the business by taking every available opportunity there is for growth.

Terry Johnson, Managing Director of GM in the Middle East has expressed her gladness in the appointment of Hmeid. She said, "I am very pleased to welcome Mohammed to this new position. His rich background will help grow the Premium Brands business. He is results driven and has great diverse business knowledge with propensity to explore new opportunities and translate them into unique concepts and consumer offerings."

Before joining General Motors Hmeid was the brand manager at British American Tobacco and has also held the same position in BMW Group Middle East. "It is a great time to be working on these exciting brands and to be able to play a part in their growth," said Hmeid.

Hmeid has replaced Chase Hawkins who was the regional division marketing director for Premium Brands from 2005 to 2006 and transferred recently to South Africa to occupy the same position of sales director at GM South Africa.

In other GM news: General Motors has accepted the Dodge Viper challenge. According to Chairman Bob Lutz, the new 600 horsepower 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 won't be keeping its title as the king-of-the-road for long once GM releases its Corvette Blue Devil which is said to be the automaker's next generation super sports car.

"As you all know, it is not our policy to discuss future product programs. However...," he said to humor the audience, "it is very important for Corvette to be the most powerful, most capable, best handling sports car in the United States." And of course in order to make the Corvette Blue Devil to become the super sports car it needs quality auto parts, the best that General Motors can produce. Come to think of it, GM has always been a leader when it comes to production of top-of-the-line car parts and an example of which is its line of GM fender flares which are popular for their quality and durability.

Lutz has also acknowledged that the top-level horsepower of GM's Corvette was surpassed by a recent competitor but quickly added "the Corvette vehicle line executive will not take that lying down."

According to Bob Gitzinger, Senior Editor for news at AutoWeek magazine, Chevrolet is developing a Corvette that is known in several names: the Blue Devil, Stingray, Devil Ray or SS. "We all know the new Corvette is out there. The car is in development and it's been speculated that it will have about 650 horsepower...It's supposed to be here in 2009."