(December 10, 2009) DETROIT — General Motors has confirmed Buick GMC General Manager Michael Richards has quit after nine days on the job, according to the Detroit News

"We wish him the best," said Susan Docherty, GM's vice president of sales, service and marketing, who did not name a replacement.

The confirmation comes less than 24 hours after the surprise retirement of Chevrolet Vice President Brent Dewar, who had been appointed to lead the automaker's largest and most important brand five months ago.

Richards, who departed "to pursue other career opportunities," was most recently vice president of marketing and sales for the global automotive business at Trilogy, based in Austin, Texas.

Trilogy made a strong counteroffer to keep Richards, and he was said to be considering that offer in light of Friday's management shakeup engineered by Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Richards, 52, replaced Docherty, who was appointed GM vice president in charge of U.S. sales in October.

Prior to his time at Trilogy, he was a consultant to J.D. Power and Associates in Troy. In that capacity, he led the company's efforts to develop products to improve customer satisfaction, market share and profitability for newly launched vehicles. He also developed a syndicated index to measure new vehicle launch performance.