FastLane

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

It’s been a historic week for us, and I don’t mean in Washington. And let me just say upfront that I know there is a lot of talk online about that subject. But I am not going to comment here about any government loans or hearings or GM’s financial situation — just like I wouldn’t engage you in conversation about it if I ran into you in the produce aisle. We have other places online for that conversation, such as gmfactsandfiction.com.

I would like to give you a brief update, however, on the progress we’re making on the Chevrolet Volt, and I would characterize it as great progress.

We have moved on to the next phase of engineering development for the vehicle. That means that we’ve moved from the Volt test mules using previous-generation Malibu bodies (affectionately known as “MaliVolts”) to test vehicles using vehicles from our next-generation global compact car architecture.

That architecture will not only spawn vehicles like the Volt, but also the Chevrolet Cruze and others like it. And I have to say, after driving it with the Volt system placed within, I feel terrific about the driving dynamics of that architecture. It instantly feels several price classes higher than what it actually is, due to the level of refinement.

The relative quiet and absence of vibration stand out, among other things. The chassis integrity felt outstanding to me… the steering response was good, the brakes were good, the turn-in was good and so on. I think it needs very little in terms of additional tuning. So I have very high hopes for when we get some test vehicles running with the actual Volt production body aboard.

As for the powertrain and propulsion system, I couldn’t be more pleased. It was 30 degrees and windy and flurrying. We started with about a 60-percent charge on the battery pack, to see how it would perform and when the engine would kick on.

To my delight, we went about 19 silent, electrically powered miles before that engine engaged. And when it did, it was so quiet and non-jarring that they had to tell me it had come on, because I wasn’t looking at the tach. Granted, many years in airplane cockpits have taken their toll on my hearing, but still, I can say with impunity that the engine was quiet and not at all intrusive in terms of noise.

Right now, the engine is tuned rather aggressively so that once it did kick on, it tended to cut in and out quite a bit at low speeds. But we will find the right balance to address that — that’s why we’re doing all this development work! I know there were concerns about what it would be like when the engine kicks on, whether it would excite the structure and cause all kinds of vibrations and such, but I have to say it wasn’t an issue. It was wonderfully masked, and will continue to improve as testing continues.

I ended up putting in about 30 miles behind the wheel, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the vehicle, the development, or the team behind it. And they will continue to work round the clock to further refine the Volt and get it on the road — and in your hands — year after next.

Yesterday, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz spoke Monday during the Public Relations Society of America’s International Conference in Detroit. While Bob’s remarks have more to do with public relations and effective messaging than with General Motors, he does make some interesting points about communications and how it relate to the auto industry. - Will Stewart, blog editor

Vice Chairman Bob Lutz discusses the high quality of today’s GM cars and trucks – and issues a unique challenge to compare our vehicles to our competitors’ – in today’s installment of our “The Case for GM” video series. As always, please let us know your thoughts and check back regularly for responses from our execs and other members of our team. You can find a transcript of Bob’s video here. - Christopher Barger, Director, Global Communications Technology

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

What a week it’s been so far …

First, we had Tuesday’s GMNext centennial celebration and global broadcast, culminating in the reveal of the production Chevrolet Volt, which was a terrific experience. Then Wednesday came an experience I must confess was like no other I’ve had in my career — I was interviewed on The Colbert Report.

I will start off by stating for the record that Stephen Colbert is a comic genius, absolutely manic but absolutely hilarious. He used to do GM Goodwrench TV commercials for us a few years back, FYI. I’d like to thank him and everyone at the show for the opportunity to be a guest. The whole thing was a great time, from the moment we arrived at the studio.

It was an unusual interview, to be sure! As the interviewee, you must understand that he is trying to extract meaningful information, while remaining “in character” as a pompous, self-admiring but largely clueless talk-show host. Satire is one of my favorite things, and that show has it down as well as any.

I was warned not to try to counter his humor with offerings of my own: “He’ll inevitably win. You should just smile, and play it straight.”

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By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

We’ve weathered a lot of skepticism since the Chevrolet Volt concept was introduced at the 2007 Detroit show. The Volt has been called “vaporware” by some members of the media. We’ve heard executives from other manufacturers tell the press that the battery technology won’t work. We’ve even been accused of using the Volt to “greenwash” our image.

Well, as everyone knows now, the Volt is real, and the covers have come off. And it represents nothing less than the first step in the reinvention of the automobile.

The vehicle’s design has come under some criticism, most of it, to me, unwarranted. The challenge to the designers wasn’t to design the most beautiful car imaginable and accept the compromises you have to make to do so. It was, make no compromise to fuel efficiency and electric range, and then do the most beautiful design possible, around those aerodynamic dictates.

When you look at the exterior of the Volt, you might notice certain aerodynamic shapes and design elements of some other cars you might see on the road. But beneath the skin, it shares very little with any other car that’s ever existed. So I submit that while it’s typically design that makes an emotional connection with buyers, in this case, the Volt is going to be bought for emotional reasons, but it will be for the emotion tied to the technology contained therein.

The Volt means a lot to General Motors, and to the industry, on a variety of levels. First of all, this is solid technology that is going to be proven reliable. It’s a practical way that we can electrify the automobile and drastically reduce our dependency on imported petroleum. It’s also important to GM to help reinforce and continue its proud history of technological innovation, and to help restore the image of leadership that accompanied that history.

In terms of the impact of Volt on the automobile industry, I think you’ll see lithium-ion technology filter out to the rest of the industry, even to our competitors who initially said it wouldn’t work. I think they’ve figured out that we may well be onto a winning formula here, with 40 miles of driving powered by electricity from a battery and a small engine — powered by gasoline or E85 — to create additional electricity to power the vehicle for several hundred additional miles. I suspect most of our competitors will have vehicles with technology similar to the Volt within four or five years.

What does that mean for society at large? I think it can have an enormous benefit. Our statistics show that 78 percent of Americans drive 40 miles a day or less. That means that nearly 80 percent of Americans can commute powered by electricity from the grid, never using a drop of gas.

When we achieve substantial production, and if our competitors do as well, and the public takes to this new way of driving — and there’s no doubt in my mind they will — we will drastically reduce gasoline and/or diesel consumption and we will simultaneously be drastically reducing our dependency on oil. This puts the country in a much more comfortable place geopolitically and also helps the environment. So at this point, I think it’s very hard to overestimate the importance of the Volt for GM, for the industry and for society in general.

The production version of the Volt represents our progress, and our commitment to seeing that all become a reality in short order. We’d like nothing more than to see everyone drive a Volt and stop going to the gas pump so often to fill up on ever-more-expensive fuel imported from an ever-more-unstable part of the world.

With the Volt, you go home, you plug it in, and you’re done. And for roughly 80 cents’ worth of electricity, you’ve got a fully-charged battery, ready to take on another forty miles of gas-free and tailpipe-emission-free driving. If that’s greenwashing, then come on in — the water’s fine.

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

Here’s something that arrived in my e-mail inbox recently from an old friend. I thought I’d pass it along to the FastLane crowd, because I know you’ll find it as interesting as I did. The Big Three has taken a lot of heat in recent years over falling sales in the domestic auto industry. But, as this little quiz reminds us, there’s plenty that the U.S. automakers in general – and GM in particular – are doing right.

The correct answers, along with sources, are after the jump.

1.) Which mid-size sedan has the highest initial quality?
a. Accord (Honda)
b. Altima (Nissan)
c. Camry (Toyota)
d. Malibu (Chevrolet)

2.) Which large sedan has the highest initial quality?
a. Avalon (Toyota)
b. Grand Prix (Pontiac)
c. Sable (Mercury)

3.) Which mid-size pickup has the highest initial quality?
a. Dakota (Dodge)
b. Ranger (Ford)
c. Tacoma (Toyota)

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By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

Wednesday night, I watched Phil LeBeau’s hour-long special on CNBC, which was titled “Saving GM.” And I must say, I came away impressed — and not just because they got my name right (although, not quite my title — I am, after all, vice chairman of global product development, not global quality).

No, I was impressed with the balance, the fairness, and the journalistic integrity of the entire piece. Our story is there, warts and all, but so are the things we’re trying to do to help this company survive and thrive in the future. The missteps we’ve made in the past were clearly spelled out, as are the challenges we face today. It’s no puff piece, that’s for certain.

After everything I’ve seen written about GM in the past couple of weeks — some of it fair analysis, but a good bit of it irresponsible speculation or uninformed opinion and bias — it was refreshing to see someone pointing out that we’ve been getting a lot of things right, too. And CNBC’s conclusion is much like our own, that we need the words “smash hit vehicle from GM” to make more people think of cars in showrooms, not museums.

If you’re interested in seeing an unflinching but unquestionably fair look at General Motors — not to mention getting an inside look at some of our design studios and test tracks — you should check out “Saving GM” when it re-airs on Sunday evening, August 10, on CNBC at 10 pm EDT. And for those of you who saw the program, let us know what you thought.

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

Well, it’s finally here.

It feels like we’ve been talking about the Camaro for a long time, but it’s just been a couple of years since the concept car’s unveiling at the Detroit auto show, and now the production car is officially in the public eye, as of yesterday, July 21, 2008.

As promised, this is a Camaro for the new millennium, with subtle design nods to its rich heritage, and, I have to say, this is the best Camaro ever, in my opinion.

When I drove it during development, I was astounded every time. In fact, this was my already-reported reaction to driving a test car: “Twisting the key produced a muted rumble from the big V8. We pulled away smoothly in the first cog of the new, slick, six-speed manual. Depressing the accelerator shifted the world into fast forward, with three or four more quick upshifts. The car had just been completed and had had no tuning or finessing. But I loved the response, the sound, the steering and the brakes.”

That was slightly less than a year ago… and Gene Stefanyshyn’s team has refined the car even further, and I have to say I love the results. The improvement from the test car to the production car is exponential. This new Camaro is absolutely a no-compromises muscle car, with a beautiful design from Ed Welburn’s team that doesn’t look at all “retro.”

Obviously, the emphasis on fuel economy has increased since we first announced that a new Camaro would enter the market. But that was largely a moot point for us, because the goal all along was to build it with the best fuel economy we could possibly get, even before energy prices took their meteoric rise. I think the team succeeded there, too.

The Camaro’s two engine choices are both efficient options. One is a 300-hp 3.6-liter V6 that gets up to 26 mpg on the highway. And the other is a powerful 6.2-liter V8 for the SS model that makes 422 horsepower with a manual transmission, or 400 with an automatic that also features our fuel-saving Active Fuel Management system, which shuts down half the cylinders under light loads. The V8 is estimated at about 23 mpg on the highway.

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By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

This week we announced that the GM Board has approved the Chevrolet Volt program. Yes, development work has been going on in earnest, but now it’s official. In fact, recently, at GM’s Milford Proving Ground, I drove an official “engineering development vehicle” with the 16-kwh lithium-ion battery pack we’ve been testing for our E-Flex System and I have to say - pun half-intended - it was electrifying.

The first impression of the day, however, was made before I even got into the vehicle. It hit me on the drive out to Milford, as I passed gas station after gas station with prices for regular unleaded hugging the $4 mark: This makes the importance and potential of our all-electric glide through our proving ground roads even clearer.

Now, don’t run to the Chevy dealer and order your Volt yet: The “test mule” I drove - a previous-generation Malibu - wasn’t calibrated properly, and there are an awful lot of tests that this battery must pass before it’s cleared for production. Our battery teams in Warren and in Germany are working hard in our battery labs to determine that these batteries will work for the life of the vehicle. Still, the conditions in a real-world environment - where the battery is exposed to shaking, moisture and rapidly changing temperature conditions - are much more extreme than the controlled settings of the lab.

But I think it’s important to point out that in the six months since we’ve received the battery pack, we’ve tested it in the lab, then on the dynamometer, and now on the track. Eventually, if and when we settle on the right battery, our E-Flex System engineers will have a lot of integrating, tuning and tweaking to do before the Volt is ready for prime time. And we’ll keep you informed of our progress every step of the way.

Upon future drives, when the vehicle is closer to true calibration, I’ll have more driving details. But I will say that, while the car is still most definitely a work in progress, the thrill of driving electrically – that instant, silent torque – is certainly present and accounted for! Of course, as you can imagine, I miss the throaty roar of an engine. Once we get this whole battery thing perfected, our friends at XM Satellite Radio may have to start an Internal Combustion Channel.

The Buick Invicta Concept

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

Recently we unveiled the Buick Invicta concept car at the Beijing motor show. It was a natural choice to have the sleek concept sedan’s debut in China, where Buick is an established, respected premium luxury brand.

The Invicta is a vehicle that GM Global Product Development can be proud of on many levels, not the least of which is, I think, that it’s a beautifully designed car. It shows where Buick design is headed, both in China and in North America, and gives you a strong hint at what the next generation LaCrosse might look like.

In the big picture, to me, Invicta is symbolic of the progress we continue to make revamping GM Global Product Development and rolling out our global architecture programs. The next generation LaCrosse will share an architecture with other midsize sedans from Chevrolet, Saab, Opel/Vauxhall and others. But the key to the whole thing is … it will be very hard to tell they share the same parentage if you didn’t already know.

This is not “badge engineering.” And it goes beyond “common platforms.” This is taking the parts of the vehicle that the customer doesn’t see or come in contact with and commonizing them – and then investing the savings in the sheet metal and the interiors and the other factors that differentiate the vehicles from brand to brand. Dimensions can change, such as length and width and cowl height. Suspensions can be vastly different, changing the character and behavior of the vehicle, depending on brand. It’s all plug and play, with markedly different cars coming from the same Lego set. (Eds. Note: No real Lego pieces are used.)

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