Bob Lutz, the iconic and often polemic Vice Chairman of General Motors' global product development team, announced back in February that he would be retiring from the company at the end of the year. With GM emerging from bankruptcy protection earlier this week as a leaner and more focused company, 77-year old Lutz waived his plan to retire in order to return to his marketing roots.

Lutz has been at GM for almost eight years and is widely credited for bringing a new emphasis on style and quality back to the company. He is also one of the key men behind the development of the upcoming Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and has been vocal about sticking around to see the car finally launched, currently slated for late next year.

“Marketing is my occupational specialty, it’s what I was trained in, it’s what I did the first 20 years of my career,” Lutz, explained to Bloomberg. “I was in product development almost illegally.”

The new GM yesterday emerged from bankruptcy protection after 39 days, focusing on four brands in a bid to return to profitability after $88 billion in losses since 2004. Lutz’s responsibility will be to promote these four brands, focusing on advertising, communications and marketing – areas that were previously managed by several different executives.