Many observers were puzzled when General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson decided to make 77-year old company veteran Bob Lutz the company's chief of marketing.
A septuagenarian who was with the company from 1963-1971 and then from 2002 on would hardly seem like the fresh face to lead GM in the new millennium. The fact that he's a global warming denier also doesn't help his case.
BusinessWeek takes an interesting look at Lutz and what he does bring to the table: "Lutz has a way of filling up any room he is in. His power at GM has been that no one else in any room he was in had better judgment on how a car should look or feel when you drive it. And everyone else in the company knew it. Lutz is not trained in marketing. But he has gravitas and a way of pushing stupidity down the hole from whence it came."
So let's recap: The guy who will lead GM into the green-friendly future is an old man who doesn't believe in global warming and has a track record of taking money out of GM and investing it elsewhere. Somehow I'm just not that excited.
Closing Bell: Stock bulls and dollar death (DDRX,GMCR, PEET, SBUX, EBAY, CI, TECD)
So long peak oil, here comes peak uranium
Black Friday expected to be strong, no promises for Christmas
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-16-2009 @ 1:55PM
ij70 said...
I do not believe in global warming either. However, keeping Lutz around is bad idea.
7-16-2009 @ 2:01PM
big mac said...
To paraphrase a favorite old SNL sketch; Zac, you ignorant slut. Lutz is THE best car guy at ANY car company. More than anything, GM needs to build desirable cars and Lutz is the guy to make sure that happens. His denial of global warming is ancient history. He came around to acceptance of that a good while ago. As for selling his stock, are you saying that you would have just stuck your head in the sand and pretended that you weren't about to lose a fortune when it was preventable? What a maroon! All car companies need someone like Lutz who has the "gravitas" to stand up to the the pencil pushers that have been giving us the crap we've been getting for the last 30 or 40 years. To be direct about it, Lutz has the nutz.
P.S. You better hope he doesn't find out you called him an old man, 'cause he just might kick your ass!
7-16-2009 @ 2:05PM
big mac said...
To paraphrase a favorite old SNL sketch; Zac, you ignorant slut. Lutz is THE best car guy at ANY car company. More than anything, GM needs to build desirable cars and Lutz is the guy to make sure that happens. His denial of global warming is ancient history. He came around to acceptance of that a good while ago. As for selling his stock, are you saying that you would have just stuck your head in the sand and pretended that you weren't about to lose a fortune when it was preventable? What a maroon! All car companies need someone like Lutz who has the "gravitas" to stand up to the the pencil pushers that have been giving us the crap we've been getting for the last 30 or 40 years. To be direct about it, Lutz has the nutz.
P.S. You better hope he doesn't find out you called him an old man, 'cause he just might kick your ass!
7-16-2009 @ 6:56PM
al coholic said...
The fact that Lutz doesn't believe in the fairy tale of man made global warming is a plus.