Bob Lutz Says Global Warming is a "Total Crock of Sh**"

The fact is the Tundra is flaming out, but when people buy foreign goods they are slicing their own throats and worse yet, the throats of their children and grandchildren.

 

I think the reality of this situation is that the remaining 2/3s of the world is entering what we Americans have considerd for the past 60 years is "middle class". I think without new invention and new technology the U.S. will have to lower it's standards to compete and meet the upcoming global economy without good innovation.

 

If we continiue to let ourselves be fleeced as a nation you are absolutley right. Teh US will become a second tier nation. We will be able to explain to our kids and grandkids what we let happen.

 

What standards? The America I see has no standards, just unrealistic expectations.

I'm thinking he saw the latest progress report on the Volt program and it's not going as fast as he would like and likely well over budget.

 

What is his point? (GW is total nonsense, so everyone must shift to buying low quality, 15 mpg SUVs for $50k?) The Volt looks to be a great concept, so.....I was wondering when the GM Board of Directors vs Internal GM Volt supporters battle would start.

[NOTE: To take a concept to reality takes lots more money than planned, and a TOTAL commitment at the highest levels (e.g. Prius, Tesla). All the money needed to execute the Volt needs to come from GM revenue, which they do not have.]

 

...he sleeps with the boss' ugly daughter?

 

Every company dies. Period. One of the characteristics (either a cause or a symptom) is the progression of CEOs from a very technically oriented founder to a completely non-technical wall street darling. Note that the Toyota boss has changed from a technical oriented family member to a businessman. The hope for the USA car business is with Tesla and any siblings that might show up, not on the dead coming back to life. I really do want a very strong USA car industry with cutting edge vehicles. We really do seem to have that still with aircraft, but not cars.

Really? I have a hard time beliving that you have never ever bought a foreign good of any sort, including gas.

Now, I really try to consider the ramification of my purchases. Yes, buying a Prius finances more effort on hybrid efforts. Buying a Escalade finances more effort to build even bigger gas guzzlers. GM and Ford STILL do not have a really high mpg, high quality car....and that is not my doing.

 

I completely agree with this. Tesla, Aptera...companies most people haven't even heard of yet are the future of the US auto industry. US auto was always on the bleeding edge of the industry, and in the past thirty-or-so years that has changed. What we have today is the unfortunate result of this transition. But American ingenuity is not dead - not by a long shot - and the start-ups of today are proving that. American companies are once again on the bleeding edge of the industry...just not necessarily the companies we are accustomed to have there. Wait until these cars hit the streets and enter the mainstream. I happen to think that a revolution is looming in US auto manufacturing - and it is not within the Big 3.

 

US Ford, GM and Chrysler are having done to them what the British car and motorcycle industry had done to it in the 70s, being outclassed while sitting on their arses saying Japanese cars and bikes are not as good as British when plainly they were better.

Each manufacturer should employ at least one person who hates the brand, to point out the the failings of the product, then they need to listen to them. GM, Ford and Chrysler need that person desperately.

 

Pat, I just might be able to identify a candidate for the job at Toyota!

 

If the management in car manufacturers is anything like the public service the people at the top surround themselves with "yes men" (and women) so they only hear people who agree with them.

Why have any upper management at all if there is only 1 brain at the top allowed to work?

 

Trouble is he hates the brand so much he would just agree with current management. I'm not sure Japan has the same management structure? I remember working in Mitsubishi where everyone's opinion was heard right down to the assembly line workers.

 

Generally I like Lutz, but that was a really irresponsible thing to say.