Bob Lutz

2009 Cadillac CTS-V - Click above for high-res image gallery

Bob Lutz. His name alone is enough spark heated discussions amongst us four-wheel loving types. But aside from being "Maximum" and getting GM to construct the Lutz 'Ring and using little more than personal chutzpah to push projects like GM's ill-fated Kappa platform through the General's special brand of extra-thick red tape, have you ever stopped and thought about the jet fightin',

Admittedly, we've always known that Bob Lutz has a flair for the dramatic. The from-the-gut talkin', hard-drivin', fast-flyin,' General Motors vice chairman has always been good for a juicy quote, and although he is retiring soon, that doesn't mean Lutz is stepping out of the limelight completely.

Click image above for a gallery of Cadillac Converj live shots

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Saturn Astra XR

Click the image above for a high-res view.

GM has seen plenty of tough times over the past few years, and even the company's top executives have felt the pinch. Executive pay was among the items cut as the General waded through multi-billion-dollar losses and immense market pressure, but after two years of cuts, the members of GM's top brass are getting their old salaries back. Top boss Rick Wagoner's base pay went as "low" as $1.1M but is now back to its 2003 level of $2.2M. Product czar Bob Lutz and money man Fritz Henderson also had t

click above to watch Ballroom Bob get down and boogie

Sending the Chevrolet Volt into production might be the last effort of GM's Vice Chairman for Global Product Development, Bob Lutz. The 75-year-old executive has stated that he would like to retire from the automotive giant once they get a plug-in electric vehicle on the market (nevermind that they already had one with the EV1). While a precise date of retirement has not been set, it will possibly occur sometime in 2010. Since Lutz has been one of GM's main champions of the Volt, it is no surpri

Lascelles Linton

Promising the best possible fuel economy for whichever type of vehicle its customers choose, GM's Bob Lutz and Ed Peper trotted a full lineup of green vehicles from their arsenal. The Aveo5, Impala E85, Malibu Hybrid, Tahoe Hybrid, Silverado Hybrid, Volt, Equinox Fuel Cell, Beat and Groove were used to show off that Chevy will be the brand carrying the greenish flame most prominently into the future for GM. Lutz talked about having a whole range of options available to meet future trends, from h

click above image for more high-res pics of the 2008 Chevy Malibu

Cadillac's lineup is looking better than it has in years, with the hot-selling CTS and the defacto standard for large SUVs, the Escalade. While the SRX crossover is an Autoblog favorite, it isn't experiencing the kind of sales success as many of its rivals.

A common auto industry argument against CAFE - regulation that requires automakers to make their overall vehicle fleet get more miles per gallon - is that it will just force small cars on the road and big vehicles off. The argument goes that the automakers will not be able to improve cars and the only solution will be for automakers to build small cars, which get higher miles per gallon simply because they are small. This not only degrades choice in the market but it hurts the car companies beca

Maximum Bob has had enough of automotive experts who question the guile of domestic execs, and as usual Mr. Lutz isn't afraid to share his thoughts with all who are willing to listen. At his recent speech at the Center for Automotive Research's annual management conference, Blogger Bob opened a GM-sized can on experts referring to Big Three executives as "Detroit Dinosaurs". Mr. Lutz asked if three independent companies wi

This morning at the Management Briefing Seminar in Traverse City MI General Motors Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz will be speaking and making an announcement related to the Chevy Volt/E-Flex program. As the morning progresses we'll be bringing you l

In the latest installment of the continuing video series being published on GM's FastLane Blog, this week Bob Lutz responds to the question: "What about diesel?" Clearly Lutz isn't a huge fan of diesel going forward, at least for the North American market. In a response similar to that given by Ford's Derrick Kuzak recently, he thinks the diesel efficiency advantage will largely be