Revving Up GM; Mark LaNeve's tough new assignment: build buzz and boost sales at General Motors. He likes his chances.(Biography)

Byline: Keith Naughton

There hasn't been much to celebrate at General Motors lately. So as its "employee discount for everyone" deal filled showrooms last month, the automaker's new marketing chief, Mark LaNeve, gathered his troops in Orlando, Fla., for a love-in. Wearing tie-dye and peace medallions, LaNeve and a few hundred sales managers danced into the night at a psychedelic '60s party on Disney's Pleasure Island. The morning after, the mood is less pleasant inside a conference room as LaNeve lays out GM's complicated repair job. Jumping onstage to "Let's Get It Started," the broad-shouldered, ham-fisted former collegiate linebacker does his best Knute Rockne. He commiserates. "What is all this bulls--- about GM," he grumbles, "and how no one likes our cars?" Then he scolds. "Folks, we cannot hit our objectives with numbers like this," he says of abysmal sales in big cities. Finally, he does something once unheard-of for a GM exec: he admits the competition just might have better moves. "If you see Toyota doing something really well," he says, "steal …