The
Miami Herald reported some frank talk from Bob Lutz, the consumate car guy and VP of Product Development for
GM. Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth:
”I can’t believe that we were so stupid,” says
Lutz, “People talk about Toyota overtaking General Motors [in global sales], as if GM were one company. But
the truth is that we had not been one company for decades. We were different companies, each doing its own thing with
little regard for the other. How can you run a global company like that? You can’t. It was stupid. No wonder Toyota was
cleaning our clock.”
Lutz goes on in detail about the company’s ‘separate-but-redundant’ policies
and other issues such as its horrendous record of rebadging, which he swears is now a thing of the past. (Pictured is
the Opel Signum and its badge-engineered U.S. counterpart, the Malibu Maxx.) He reiterated that the company has learned
from its mistakes and is “…much smarter, now.”
Here’s hoping for your sake, Bob.
[Source: Washington Post via The Miami Herald]