Filed under: Hybrid, GM, Toyota, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, China
Videos: Bob Lutz says Toyota will have egg on its face come Easter
The videos above and below the fold are parts 1 and 2 of a 50-minute speech by GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz after receiving an award at the Western Automotive Journalists' meeting. Even with no voice, jet lagged and after a drink at dinner, Bob had lots of interesting things to say. Is anyone surprised? He says, for example, that GM's CEOs took their eyes off the car business for the last 15 years, that Toyota will have egg on its face for criticizing the Volt and GM is making a $2,500 car in China. At the AutoChannel's website, they have more videos of Bob taking questions where his responses include calling the Union of Concerned Scientists a joke group and saying that if he were president he would support ethanol. Let's go through these comments, starting with assessment of the last 15 years of GM.
Bob says the "new" GM has no resemblance to the GM he knew in the sixties when he worked there or the "incredibly ponderous, multi-divisional, multi-departmental, incredibly intertwined, interlinked, almost unmanagable" GM of the seventies and eighties. Jack Smith and Rick Wagoner (GM's CEOs for the last 15 years) had to "take their eyes off the car business for a while" to struggle to clean up GM to make it lean, accountable, global and as nimble as any small, auto company ... ah, I really hope that was not slam at the late Roger Smith who served as CEO through the 80's.
In the last few minutes of the above video, after saying GM just needed a little consideration in the market place because they have improved while Toyota has not, Bob says the criticisms of the Volt by Toyota's Okamoto will be proven wrong next Easter. I will let Bob speak for himself (after the break):
[Source: YouTube, AutoChannel]
By the time the Easter Bunny delivers his or her first egg shipments we hope to have demonstrated initial prototype drives that demonstrate the feasibility of the 40 or 50 miles on pure electric drive. That sets up an interesting confrontation between ourselves and the other large automotive manufacturer because at the Tokyo show Mr. Okamoto, who is the head of R&D and technology at Toyota, conducted a press briefing during which time he showed lovely power point charts much like this one demonstrating that General Motors was completely wacky, that this wasn't going to work, it was a public relations exercise. Only we at Toyota truly know what battery technology is all about and as the world most credible car company, we hereby declare this whole thing to be non-sense and General Motors is going to fail miserably [see related post here]. Well, lets wait for the Easter Bunny and see who's right. Somebody is going to have egg on their face and I personally don't like that. So, somehow I don't think it's going to be us but watch that with interest because around Easter time somebody is going to lose credibility.
In the Q&A, Bob was very positive on ethanol saying the source of criticisms were the $350M per year campaign from American Petroleum Institute. "If we have to produce like a 100 percent of vehicles to run on E85, we will do that," Bob says and adds that if he was running things (Bob Lutz for President?) ethanol and flex fuel is the smart place to put the money. Bob says the Union of Concerned Scientists is a "joke group," basically an "advocacy group," and almost none of them have a degree in science. On CAFE legislation, Bob says that CAFE failed because the oil companies are in favor of it.
Bob says when GM asked Japanese battery companies to make a battery for the Volt, they got a reply of "no desire to quote." Bob says the U.S. government should recognize that we are in a technology war and give U.S. carmakers more help. In case you've been living in a cave for the last 20 years, Bob had some scary numbers on the growth in China and he literally says that "the Chinese automobile industry, in another 5 or 6 years, is going to be scary." Don't worry, because they are ripping apart Hondas to learn how they reduce weight and they are making a $2,500 car. Then, Bob jokes, they are going to sell them for $3,000 so they can make some money.
This speech is a perfect of example of why the press loves Bob Lutz.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
richardtoh 1:16PM (12/10/2007)
I hope GM will be be able to deliver the products as advertised. It will be a win-win for both GM and consumers.
Having said that, I think Mr. Lutz will need the help of concrete results to back up his assertion. Otherwise, the eggs will be on his face.
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Snowdog 1:32PM (12/10/2007)
Gee, Bob supports Ethanol with it's get out of CAFE free card. What a surprise. Still a complete wrong headed boondoggle though.
As far as the Volt. I have no doubt it can technically be done. But they big question is how they plan to economically market this car when it has most of the major components of a regular car plus a $10000 battery pack.
As far a Toyotas comments, weren't they along the line of "parallel hybrids being more efficient than serial", not that they couldn't do it.
The bottom line for me: GM still doesn't have a car on my shopping list. (I like wagons/hatches Like the Impreza, Fit, CRZ, Yaris, Jetta Diesel wagon).
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AES 2:28PM (12/10/2007)
"As far as the Volt. I have no doubt it can technically be done. But they big question is how they plan to economically market this car when it has most of the major components of a regular car plus a $10000 battery pack."
By using a 15-20k car as the base? That way you come out well under 30k, which is what they've indicated as a price goal all along anyway.
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Tim 3:01PM (12/10/2007)
Mr. Lutz said: "The Chinese automobile market will be bigger than Europe and the US markets combined..."
Yea, and the cars as well as most of the other products consumed by the growing Chinese market will be made where? In China!
Once the US has been bankrupted by the cost of its policy of foreign intervention and unfunded socialist entitlements, the Communist Chinese will be the world’s only super power and they are currently arming themselves!
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kert 3:29PM (12/10/2007)
we hope to have demonstrated initial prototype drives that demonstrate the feasibility of the 40 or 50 miles on pure electric drive.
Oh yes, THIS will be an achievement.
Hey, its not like electric cars that do 40 or 50 miles arent on sale in the world already. Heck, even the REVA G-Wiz "not quite a car", a huge sales success in London that has sold more than 1000 cars already, can do "40-50" miles.
When Mitsubishi ships their fully electric MiEV in 2009, lets start counting eggs on the faces.
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why not the LS2LS7? 5:06PM (12/10/2007)
kert:
You may be completely happy with an EV, but most people won't pay for a car that has such a short range. If the Volt can do 40-50 miles on electricity and longer ranges on gas as advertised, it will squash the Mitsu like a bug.
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Domenick 7:58PM (12/10/2007)
@why not the LS2/LS7?:
40 miles is plenty of range for nearly every one's commute. I bet if there was a poll taken here you would see most people's commute is under 30 miles. Maybe many would rather "overbuy" for their transportation needs but plenty of others would be happy with a 100 mile range BEV.
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Jimbo 11:55PM (12/10/2007)
It's true that 40 miles might cover many people's commute; but for most of the people I work with, the commute is 40+ miles each way. They can't really move closer to work because then their spouses would be commuting 40+ miles each way. And few employers will allow people to plug in their cars. They don't let people plug in their block heaters so why would they let them plug in their car to charge it?
What's probably the bigger issue is that most people can't afford a car just for commuting, especially if it costs $30k. They need a car that can handle all their driving needs. So while it would be great for everyone to drive EVs to work, it doesn't really work for everything else. The Volt should help solve this.
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Domenick 6:51AM (12/11/2007)
@Jimbo;
100 miles of range gets your 80 mile commute done. I don't know if I'd want to work for a company so cheap they wouldn't let you plug in your block heater though. That's pretty cheap.
Millions of families have more than one car and a BEV city car might be a wonderful solution for some of them. I sincerely hope the Volt is a success as well. I think many people will be surprised how rarely they will need to go to a gas station.
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Jared 12:41PM (12/11/2007)
"40 miles is plenty of range for nearly every one's commute. I bet if there was a poll taken here you would see most people's commute is under 30 miles. Maybe many would rather "overbuy" for their transportation needs but plenty of others would be happy with a 100 mile range BEV."
Not for my commute or my wife's. Very, very few people are willing to buy a vehicle that is range limited, even if they don't drive far very often.
A car like the Volt, which is not constrained to a short radius, has far greater appeal.
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Dustin 4:20PM (12/11/2007)
Maybe if we start ignoring the old man he'll just go away.
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WIZ 8:01PM (12/15/2007)
@why not the LS2/LS7?
@jared
You guys forget that EVs has a range of 300 miles with Lithium-Ion. If you make 10,000 of them then it'll be cheaper. The energy fuel is one-tenth the cost of gas. You forget that there is NO maintenance except tires and washer fluid for EVs.You guys only see the buying price but forget all about the maintenance fees. It's the incandescent light bulb vs the fluorescent. You pay much more for the fluorescent but it uses one-tenth the energy and you get 5-10 times longer on the bulb's life span so in the long run it is actually cheaper.
I don't think you guys drive 150 miles one way for work or for close errands around the neighborhood.It's your mentality of "need" vs "want" that needs to change. It's no different than people hugging onto hummers and SUVs even though they primarily drive it alone. Most people really don't NEED a hummer or SUV they just think they do.
The Volt is a great idea, much like the plug-in hybrid just the reverse version of that hybrid. I hope the Volt hybrid comes out and does well but until I see it on people's driveways and the real life conditions meets the standards Lutz has suggested THEN, AND ONLY THEN will I believe GM. Until then I can sit back and watch because it isn't the first time they've played the PR stunt.
And Jared "very few people" out of a population of 250 million is still a lot. I'm sure there's at LEAST 10,000 people who are willing to buy an EV which would be 0.5% of the population. There were 5000 in 1996 in California alone, so I'm sure there's 10,000 nationwide.
Reality cruncher: It's no different than people being told to not smoke anymore. There are considerably less smokers today then 20 years ago.
So you 'll have to get your grips on the FACT that gas is less efficient and becoming obsolete real quick and BEVs and PHEVs and other alternatives are on the rise to take over. It's just a matter of time. It's too bad that many people can't let go of the old.
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naned 9:49AM (2/15/2008)
If Bob Lutz is so smart,hoe come his wonderfull company lost the largest amount on money ever, in this country and the world. Also if toyota doesnt know what they are doing, and GM DOES, keep him out of our lives...He is the loser..LOSER..loser, go to China, ans stay there
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Mac 11:14AM (2/15/2008)
A Couple of Questions : How is it possible that someone from a company who reported a 39 Billion loss gets to receive a reward for anything ? How can someone in a car company that lost 39 Billion possibly critize a company that is one of the most successful? And lastly - How many of those executives that he refers to as not being focused on the car industry for 15 years are still employed their and what was the total of their bonuses during that period? GM shouldn't TALK that should just ACT
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ED 2:07PM (2/15/2008)
How interesting I find the first few minutes of the meat of this speech. As a GM worker for 15 years I am NEVER surprised by the comments of our leaders who come and go. Each with pointed remarks to the "PAST" GM. along with promise for the "NEW" GM. In Sept. of this year as we negotiated for a new contract all we heard about was a new committment to US jobs. Promises of a future for the loyal employees and future generations. Now less than 3 months later Bob spews forth the truth we all knew. " China is where we want to be"! Well Bob, how's about we move you and your family, along with our Corporate offices to China. Since it is "where you want to be", Bon Voyage`. ( sorry but I don't speak Chinese). As usual GM is only concerned about the buck with no compassion for those of us who have dedicated our lives to building this World Class Organization. I hope everyone who believed the "crock of sh't"(to Quote Bob),about commitment to American jobs,sees this speech. unload the retirees health plan by establishing the now reknowned VEBA plan. Now that everyone bit hook, line and sinker, it is business as usual and the Exodus to China shall reach epidemic proportions. Thanks for Nothing BOB>
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