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Defending Car Guy, Bob Lutz



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 22nd 04, 08:08 PM
Patrick
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Posts: n/a
Default Defending Car Guy, Bob Lutz

Note: Again, this is crossposted. Just trying to spur some
conversation in the Cambird group and I thought this was relevent to
Mustang group because we all love to see car guys running the auto
industry.

This is a interesting article. Enjoy...

---
Flint: Don't Take Down Lutz Yet
Before Detroit takes him down, they should look at what he's built.
by Jerry Flint (2004-11-22)

American journalists love to take down heroes. George Washington
cheated on his expense accounts and had false wooden teeth. Franklin
Roosevelt had a girlfriend, and you all know what Tom Jefferson did
with you know who. Those are dead heroes, of course, and it's easy to
whip them because they can't fight back.

But we love to bring down live ones, too. Remember Howard Dean, the
Democratic governor who surprised everyone with his strong showing at
first? Then the press took after him and destroyed his candidacy. It's
bad to be the front-runner in America . The press builds you up, then
they hunt to find faults and prove you have feet of clay. That is the
American press. Believe it. I'm one of them and know how the system
works.

Which brings me to Bob Lutz.

When he came to General Motors three years ago the press hailed him as
the savior of the beleaguered company, the car guy who had worked his
way up from GM to BMW to executive vice president of Ford and then the
guiding light of Chrysler's last comeback. If it was one thing GM
needed it was a car guy and here he was.

Three years later the press is sniping at him. The automotive and the
general press are nipping at his heels. The new cars are just not that
impressive. His Pontiac GTO is less that a success. Privately, auto
reporters, writers that I respect, say Bob should pack it in, go home,
he is out of touch and has become part of the problem. They complain
he is softening the sharp lines of Cadillac, that he delayed the new
Buick too long. It goes on.

Defensive ends

Well, Robert Lutz, vice chairman of GM, doesn't need my defense, but
here goes.

He's doing the job.

He is creating a team of empowered car people. Before Bob the car
people counted for nothing. That is why GM had to go outside the
company to find one.

The new products are much better than the old. You can't even compare
interiors and fit and finish.

I wish those new cars, the Chevy Cobalt four-door, the Buick LaCrosse,
even the Cadillac STS, were sharper. But look what he's got to work
with. When they tried to stretch design before Bob they came up with
the Aztek. Maybe Bob figures GM design has to learn to walk before it
can run.

Remember, he's working with the company that is still putting
four-speed automatics in its volume cars and overhead valve engines in
its new ones. He's working with the company that spends so much money
on rebates - and pensions and healthcare - that it's short of cash for
new engineering.

If anything, he's being spread too thin. As if turning around the U.S.
product wasn't enough, they had him take a couple months off to save
GM Europe. That there was no one else to do this, shows how weak the
management is.

I used to think that Bob knows his cars but he's weak on trucks. Then
I remembered that Bob was the big man at Chrysler when they redid the
Dodge Ram pickup, the vehicle that more than any other has kept
Chrysler going. He championed that radical change. Remember when he
introduced the Ram by dropping it from the ceiling at the Detroit auto
show? And he was head of Ford trucks when they began work on what
became the Explorer, the best-selling SUV ever.

Sometimes I think that he likes that European look too much, like
those conservative lines on the STS. But I'm willing to wait a while.
I remember what he and his team created at Chrysler, from cab forward
to the PT Cruiser.

So to all those writers who are beginning to nip at his heels and tap
at his feet looking for clay, I say this: He's doing the job. He's
created a new product development system out of nothing. He's got a
car engineer in charge of Cadillac, which could be - could be, I don't
know for sure - the beginning of a broad change in the organization.
He's hammered home the idea that it's the product that is important,
not the "brand marketing" ideas that sell soap and toothpaste.

Nobody's perfect. But Robert Lutz given color and excitement - like
those "Lutz moments" when he brings his chopper down in the whirlwind
- to what was an incredibly boring and predictable operation.

So semper fi, Bob. I know you'll never quit and never backstab your
associates at GM. You'll take the defeats with the victories and keep
going. And with luck we'll both live long enough to see it happen.
---

NoOp Comment: And Bob, please keep the GTO project alive! Just
continue to make it better (add more retro) and keep it affordable...
and they will come...

Patrick
'93 Cobra
'83 LTD
Ads
  #2  
Old November 23rd 04, 03:22 AM
RichA
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 22 Nov 2004 11:08:37 -0800, (Patrick) wrote:

>Note: Again, this is crossposted. Just trying to spur some
>conversation in the Cambird group and I thought this was relevent to
>Mustang group because we all love to see car guys running the auto
>industry.
>
>This is a interesting article. Enjoy...
>
>---
>Flint: Don't Take Down Lutz Yet
>Before Detroit takes him down, they should look at what he's built.
>by Jerry Flint (2004-11-22)
>
>American journalists love to take down heroes. George Washington
>cheated on his expense accounts and had false wooden teeth. Franklin
>Roosevelt had a girlfriend, and you all know what Tom Jefferson did
>with you know who. Those are dead heroes, of course, and it's easy to
>whip them because they can't fight back.
>
>But we love to bring down live ones, too. Remember Howard Dean, the
>Democratic governor who surprised everyone with his strong showing at
>first? Then the press took after him and destroyed his candidacy. It's
>bad to be the front-runner in America . The press builds you up, then
>they hunt to find faults and prove you have feet of clay. That is the
>American press. Believe it. I'm one of them and know how the system
>works.
>
>Which brings me to Bob Lutz.
>
>When he came to General Motors three years ago the press hailed him as
>the savior of the beleaguered company, the car guy who had worked his
>way up from GM to BMW to executive vice president of Ford and then the
>guiding light of Chrysler's last comeback. If it was one thing GM
>needed it was a car guy and here he was.
>
>Three years later the press is sniping at him. The automotive and the
>general press are nipping at his heels. The new cars are just not that
>impressive. His Pontiac GTO is less that a success. Privately, auto
>reporters, writers that I respect, say Bob should pack it in, go home,
>he is out of touch and has become part of the problem. They complain
>he is softening the sharp lines of Cadillac, that he delayed the new
>Buick too long. It goes on.
>
>Defensive ends
>
>Well, Robert Lutz, vice chairman of GM, doesn't need my defense, but
>here goes.
>
>He's doing the job.
>
>He is creating a team of empowered car people. Before Bob the car
>people counted for nothing. That is why GM had to go outside the
>company to find one.


If he can't take market share back from the Japanese, he should
resign.

 




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