Caps94ZODG

Think about it...is the worlds largest automaker hit the iceburg and nothing he can do about it...and like the movie you got the people under him saying..were ok...we wont sink..blahh blahh blahh...I mean I figured after the GTO we would of seen something more..like the next step not 2-3 yrs down the line..more like BOOM BOOM BOOM..GTO okay here is Cobalt..okay here is Solstice..next yr is the Sky...boom...but its stuck in the same position like it hit an iceburg and is sinking...ohh we got Corvette...okay..you have a classy 300C...no we the Impala SS...okay how bout the Magnum? umm we have alot of SUV's...what about Mustang...umm we have GTO??? But nothing seems to fit as a comparison vehicle to GM...
Mustang Camaro
Magnum Nomad
300C Chevelle 4 door..

see what I mean..so is GM the new Titanic that will be sunk by the idiots that didnt "fix" the ship so it could stay afloat???

Big Als Z

Nomad is MUCH smaller then the Magnum. In that case, just stick teh Maxx against the Magnum.

Jason E

No. Big ship, but not as bleak as you make it out to be. Remember, a year ago we were speculating Chrysler might be spun off from DCX, shut down, or who knows what. Look at them now.

Z284ever

Yeah, but they took a huge risk with the LX cars. Alot of people put their careers on the line... for it to be a homerun.

No such mantra at GM. Jim Perkins put it all on the line for the C5. What did he get for it? Early retirement.

guionM

Chrysler has always taken huge risks. Cab-Forward, Viper, Mini Vans, K-Cars, etc... That happens when the grim reaper comes to your door as much as it's come to Chrysler.

Bob Lutz was hired to try to short circuit the system at GM. GM knows it has serious problems getting good cars to market. Bob Lutz was not just given the product position at GM, that position was elevated from 'president' to 'vice chairman' for him just so he would have a chance at making headway at getting things done.

GMs problem isn't a lack of good ideas or comitted people, it's that GM is set up to be an ultra conservative company. New ideas tend to be squashed in favor of the status quo, while stopping bad habbits almost require an act of God.

morb|d

The biggest problem with GM I would say is that people making the decisions haven't the slightest clue what makes a good vehicle. It's like that movie with Tom Hanks where he's a kid and he gets his wish to be older, but he's still a kid. Kids KNOW what a good toy is, but adults making the toys don't have any idea. Its the same concept with GM. They can't tell a good car from their own *** hole, and worse yet, they don't give a fig. As long as everyone's *** is coverd and everyone gets their paycheck, who cares what's going on outside the corporate iron curtain where people actually have a choice beyond what GM is offering. GM needs to start taking some risks. And not of the Aztec veriaty either...

Caps94ZODG

guionM, so what your saying is hes caught up like a mouse in a maze...and like everything at GM..Lutz was a good idea..but cus of the beancounters and corprate stradegey he was put in file and rank like the rest of them..

MissedShift

90 solid years of bueracracy tends to entrench certain parts of business. And in that time span, the different units of GM, such as marketing, engineering, sales, etc etc, have all not only stuck their hands into every facet of building cars, in order to increase their own power, but also to insulate themselves from harm.

Michael Crichton's character Ian Malcom said it best in The Lost World;

"Put three people in a room, and things get done. Put ten people in a room, and progress slows down. Put a hundred people in a room and you cant get ANYTHING done."

Anyone care to guess which one GM represents?

Josh452

Well said. One thing I found out while researching Mr. Lutz for an article I did on him was that it took 4 years before his ideas really hit full tilt when he was product boss at Chrysler.

So, going by that give him one more year, THEN start to say "Bob Lutz is terrible, he's this he's that." Because quite frankly, people have no idea how much good he's doing for GM that we can't see.

WERM

Lutz has been criticized because the Buick Lacross (one of the cars he worked on from very early on) came out looking not like the show car, but very much like the ho hum car it replaced. At the same time, he publicly stated that he "would not have approved" the 300 had he still been at Chrysler. His GTO is considered a flop within the industry.

Not that Lutz hasn't done good things, but I don't think he alone is the savior everyone was looking for.

L.A. Z

I dont doubt Lutz's ability at all. Do you think ANYONE could get right in there and chnge things up, break the mold, and move towards the vision that we all have for GM? I think there are enough roadblocks in the corperate system to turn the most dedicated visionary into "a mouse in a maze."

Who has the power and gumption to shake up the foundation of such a large corperation?

L.A. Z

GM has no competitor for the Magnum. Just the name "Magnum" makes it sound powerful and almost makes you think that they want you to look past its wagon like appearance, and remember that you can get a Hemi in it. "Hey Dads of America...haul your family, and haul some @ss with a Hemi Magnum. The Maxx seems to more accentuate its utilitarian style. Havent seen a commercial on TV with the Maxx doing a handbrake assisted FWD burnout. JMHO, but these are completely different markets with limited cross-shopers.

305fan

Lutz has been great for GM. He can't solve all the past problems in short amount of time. I thought the GTO was a great idea too--a bit more aggresive style/better rims and lower price would cure it, I bet.

Maybe people were expecting too much out of Lutz in the first place. He can't totally fix GM and likely won't be around long enough. He's getting old.
But he can start to seriously revamp GM and get better products out.

It takes time for peoples perceptions to change and regain lost marketshare.