Car Throttle

General Motors today has a radically different product development culture than it did 10 years ago. Products are developed with much less red tape and bureaucratic messes. Hopefully, the corporate development culture has been changed for the good. The change in approach is owed in large part to Bob Lutz, who was hired in 2001 by then-Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner. That's why it was a bit disconcerting to some when he retired from the company in May 2010. Now GM has announced that Maximum Bob is back, in a consulting capacity, providing counsel to the senior leadership of the company. This is good news - Lutz championed performance vehicles and the "secret weapon" journalists the company brought in to provide critique of new

Cadillac recently announced it's CTS-V Challenge, and now there is already more news about it that demonstrates the amount of interest surrounding the event. The CTS-V Challenge developed quite quickly - on a recent conference call with journalists, GM's Bob Lutz said he would be willing to take on all challengers against the CTS-V. It is being done as part of GM's "May The Best Car Win" campaign and GM claims the CTS-V is the world's fastest production sedan. Jalopnik accepted the original challenge, but GM has taken it farther than that. Over 120 applications were received, and right now GM is weeding through them for the final competition. Not all are valid though - Cadillac spokesman Nick Twork put it like this: "Honestly, about three-quarters

A lot has been going on at General Motors over the past few months. Fresh out of bankruptcy, the company has worked to project a different image as part of the "New GM" launch. That includes pushing new product like the Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Buick LaCrosse and others. That has included some impressive steps forward, like the cancellation of the "Vuick" Crossover. Also new is the "May the Best Car Win campaign" with the much-trumpeted "60 day money back guarantee." GM's Bob Lutz, or Maximum Bob as he is known, seems to have taken that tagline to heart. On a recent company conference call, he challenged anyone to a race with the CTS-V against any other production four-door. GM claims the Cadillac CTS-V is the

Reporting on this story is really too bad. Remember the excitement around the Solstice Concept and the ensuing production vehicle? It really created a wave of goodwill for General Motors and the Pontiac brand. In production it proved to be no less successful, selling out quickly. Even as the initial excitement wore off, it overtook the Mazda MX-5 Miata in sales - no small feat. GM's Bob Lutz was one of the car's chief champions and it paid off. That's why it's sad to hear that production of the two vehicles based off the Kappa platform - the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, has been stopped. There was some talk that possibly an independent buyer could come in and make a deal to GM for just the Solstice

Bob Lutz, bearer of good news! He is fresh off his "unretirement" and back, better than ever. The reshuffling retains his position as Vice-Chairman of GM and actually adds responsibilities: he's in charge of “creative elements of products and customer relationships.” Bob Lutz is known famously in the auto industry for his propensity to speak his mind, and that hasn't changed. Pontiac's G8 has seen new life in it's sales numbers since the announcement about the Pontiac brand cancellation. Clearly the product has potential; it was critically acclaimed in the press. Not only that, there is multiple other reasons for keeping the car, like Australian production revenue that is vital to GM's Holden subsidiary. The logical reasons are there, which is why the response of GM's CEO Fritz