When Roger Smith, who died just a few weeks ago, was in-charge of General Motors, he made what was, even for him, a very impressive, embarrassing verbal gaffe during a major GM new car introduction media event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. While on-stage and taking questions from reporters, Smith was asked by a reporter who mentioned he thought many Americans would find the prices on these GM vehicles too high, "What do you say to people who want a moderately-priced car from GM?" Smith, not being one who was known for thinking on his feet, paused for a moment and told the gathered media, "Well, they can always buy a used Buick." (Photo - GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz introduces the Chevrolet Volt at last year's Detroit Auto Show; this year, Volt has been somewhat disavowed).
There was something of a stunned silence among everyone in the large ballroom, according to people who were there, and before Smith could open his mouth again, his eventual successor, Bob Stempel, also on the stage, took to the microphone and began to "explain" what his boss had just said. Stempel spent much of that night and most of the next day meeting individually with reporters and downplaying Smith's statement. Stempel won the day, but Smith won the war, as he made sure that Stempel was kicked-off the GM Board of Directors after Smith himself had resigned from his own GM CEO job.
Now, the question is, what is Rick Wagoner going to do about Bob Lutz, and what he said to the media yesterday, during media vehicle introductions at the Detroit Auto Show? Stay tuned for that in a moment ... (Photo - Bob Lutz and one of the first models to have Lutz' prints all over it, the Pontiac GTO; it was a remake of GM Australia's Holden Monaro, and a sales fizzle in the US).
Since its introduction at last year's Detroit Auto Show, the Chevrolet Volt has been one of the most 
exciting and talked-about concept cars using existing technology to make somewhat "clean power". As detailed elsewhere on this website, the Volt, as we saw at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, is planned, according to GM, to be capable of delivering well over 600 miles on less than 12 gallons of gas. Here's how: A small on-board "generator", really a gasoline engine, is used to constantly charge a battery pack which supplies the electricity the Volt uses to power its drive wheels. The Volt, which also combined plug-in hybrid technology, can run on batteries-only for about 40 miles after it is recharged by plugging it into a normal wall socket for a few hours.
GM introduced two new high-mileage vehicle concepts at the Detroit exhibition this week, the Hummer HX and the Saab 9-4X, both of which depend on the use of ethanol, not electricity or fuel cells or even small gasoline-powered "generators," for their lowered use of plain-old gasoline. Coupled with GM CEO Rick Wagoner's statement at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Volt technology is "a stretch", and news reports coming out of GM which can't seem to agree on when a vehicle similar to Volt might be available (originally they said 2010, then 2009, now it is 2010 again, if at all), the public can only assume that GM is, at best, confused, and at worst, duplicitous, in what their gas-saving plans for the near-term might be. Which is a shame, because GM's big SUV, the Chevy Tahoe, was named "Green Car of the Year" at the LA Auto Show, thanks to a new "dual mode hybrid automatic transmission" developed in conjunction with BMW and what was then called DaimlerChrysler.
All this set the stage for Lutz' remarks to a reporter at the Detroit show yesterday; according to the LA Times:
"Asked by reporters what he would tell people unhappy that they can't get their hands on a Volt, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said: "That's too bad. They'll have to visit a Chevy dealership and buy a Cobalt or a Malibu."
Perhaps Roger Smith, recently deceased, was somehow channeling himself through Lutz. Whatever the case, his remark seems callous and even cruel, based on the public clear excitement about the possibilities of Volt and its technologies being used in a variety of GM vehicles, perhaps even being licensed to other car-makers, as Toyota does with their "hybrid synergy drive" technology (see Nissan's Altima hybrid and Porsche's forthcoming Cayenne hybrid model). (Photo - "Maximum Bob" where he finds himself most comfortable; at and as the center of attention).
Lutz, now 76, wrote a best-selling book called, "Guts!", detailing his history in the car business and his own personal philosophy. An unabashed and unapologetic egomaniac who loves being the center of everyone's attention, was a Marine Corps fighter pilot and one of his hobbies is collecting (and restoring and flying) fighter jets from other countries. Some are saying that perhaps the time will soon come when Lutz himself should show the ultimate in real guts, and either involve more of GM's younger execs in his plans. and how and why he makes decisions, or simply take his leave from the company and the industry which he served well for many years.
In any event, it seems that the only "mileage" GM, Rick Wagoner and, especially, Bob Lutz have gotten out of their once-exciting Volt concept was not on the road, but in the world's newspapers, magazines and websites; we'd call it "PR mileage".
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