Bob Lutz, GM's Denier-in-Chief, Makes for the Exit

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Bob Lutz, donโ€™t let the door bang you in the backside on your way out of theย building.

As reported in this excellent post at Solve Climate, General Motors Denier-in-Chief and Vice President for New Product Development is being excused from duty – accepting retirement to make room for Tom Stephens, the executive who has been leading the development of hybrid technology at GM.

Lutz has been GMโ€™s leading dinosaur, the reigning champion of GMโ€™s obsession with the fuel-guzzling muscle cars that helped Toyota become the number one automaker in theย world.

If you doubt that Lutz is inflicted with a fantasy gene, check the comments that he wrote on his Fastlane blog under the headline, โ€œYouโ€™re not rid of me yetโ€ (heโ€™s actually hanging around in one diminished capacity or another till the end of theย year):

โ€œPlease note that I relinquish these responsibilities secure in the knowledge that the guiding philosophy of pursuit of absolute product excellence is now firmly embedded in the organization. That unquestionable fact made a very difficult decision much easier for me.

โ€œI feel very comfortable handing over the keys to Tom Stephens, โ€ฆ. Tom will do a great job ensuring the continued excellence of GMโ€™s new cars, trucks andย crossoversโ€

Continued excellence? There seems, in this, no recognition that he is being pushed – or that his company is in such dire straights that Bloomberg actually thinks GMโ€™s prospects would be improved in bankruptcy.

It is, in any case, reassuring to see a changing of the guard at GM, just as in the White House, but you canโ€™t help wonder how much better off the world might have been (and how many jobs General Motors might have saved) if the guys being replaced had not been quite so stubborn in ignoring evidence and courting disaster. There should be a price for such culpability, and you have to hope that Lutz stays at GM just long enough to payย it.

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