Comments on: Bob Lutz Impressed with CNBC’s “Saving General Motors”

By: DaveP

DaveP — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:29:42 +0000

Finally got to watch the whole show… Much of it did seem kind of like a fluff piece, they didn’t even mention the word bankruptcy until 43 minutes into the show. But, on the other hand, it could be that we’re a little more financially concerned thanks to Statik. The average viewer might be more concerned that the cars aren’t selling as more of a problem.

It was elucidating to watch Bob Lutz show off the historic GM cars, though. Actually, I think they were hardest on him, not from a corporate performance standpoint but for a car guy like Lutz, they made him talk about some cars GM would rather have forgotten about. The look on his face was priceless when they asked him about what he thought of the looks of the Aztek! Maximum Bob actually held his tongue but kind of hovered there looking like a deer in the road. You could just imagine what he was thinking but the interviewer threw him a lifeline and said something like “could you use any other word but ugly?” and Bob just quietly agreed. (I’m sure he COULD have used some other words that would probably have gotten him into some trouble somewhere)

But those segments with Lutz were what I got the most information out of. Not like tech details, but you can watch Lutz’s expressions which give a good indication of his emotions. He’s either a fantastic actor or should never play poker. I suspect the latter. He really did light up driving the Volt mule. Although he admitted he was pretty excited that it just worked.

By: mien green

mien green — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:22:52 +0000

#86 Tagamet:

Ya think?

Maybe there’s an implied message in there somewhere. Or not.

By: Neutron Flux

Neutron Flux — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:16:43 +0000

All prices are out the window! Case in point when I bought my 2003 Toyota Matrix it was under 15K now the MSR is 22K. I know there is price creep but not normally that much. When Toyota couldn’t sell big SUV’s anymore they cranked up the price on all their economy cars, expect everyone else to do the same. Do not expect anyone to sell an electric plug in for less than 30K with a 10 mile range by the time 2011 rolls around, 40 K for a 40 mile Volt might look about right depending on fuel costs at that point. And if Obama takes office with 7K rebate as promised (hopefully limited to vehicles made in USA with 40 mile range), 33K won’t be bad. Although I don’t agree with his Nuc policy he is starting to grow on me as far as energy policy. Only problem is solar is good only during day & won’t help charge my volt at night although wind tends to pick up at night. Nuc is available 24/7 and not subject to clouds or wind blowing. I woudl like him to be more inclusive & run with everything until we end our dependanace.

By: ghost

ghost — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:05:13 +0000

45k?

I am not buying any car for 45k.

That’s ayears salary for some folks.

By: GXT

GXT — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:22:24 +0000

In my opinion there is no doubt that it was more infomercial than critical examination.

My favourite part was where they played the series of historic clips of GM execs saying things like, “Yes, our cars were horrible, but these new ones are fixed and as good as anything on the road.” and then Lutz says pretty much the same thing about the present. Just think, if GM is still around a few years from now we may see the exact same sequence but with Lutz added to the “historic” quotes.

My second favourite part was the GM worker openly admitting that they would ship out stuff they knew was wrong. Could there be a clearer example of the distinction between Toyota and GM?