Being that article said the car was on display at the end of the interview, I would be surprised if he didnt already know. That is at least before that interview that day. I have a hard time believing Letterman would have the car displayed at the end of the show if he felt it was a piece of crap.

 

Actually, Bob Lutz supported Obama in the last election.

Quite a few upper auto executives did.

 

They knew they were far more likely to be bailed out/"loaned" money from the government that way, I would assume.

 

Perhaps.

But remember, most of the people who were against helping them and used manuvers to prevent it from happening were people who instead were all for pumping taxpayer money to help foreign based car companies set up shop.

I think US auto executives tend to take things like that into account when casting their ballot.

Jokes are about the absurd, and poking fun. I doubt anyone actually believed that the Volt wouldn't make it to the end of Letterman's driveway.

Though he's not as into it as Jay Leno, Letterman knows a little about cars, and based on his history of speeding tickets, he's a fan of driving them as well.

If it wasn't for Daimler steping in, Telsa would be soon toast.

I was absolutely flabberghasted when our mayor (who in this city is actually considered a moderate... tells you alot about San Francisco) last month held up Tesla as the way that our big automakers should be making cars.

The idiot didn't realize or failed to point out that Tesla is pretty much a financial basket case, it's cars are all priced well beyond affordability, the dependability of it's powertrain by the standards of US car makers is iffy at best, and the cars are based on an existing vehicle made by another manufacturer.

It's great that companies are investing in electric car technology. But, the cheerleaders for this need to realize that not only do these things have to make money, they also have to be priced to lure the commuter who would otherwise buy a $15,000 Ford Focus or a $23,000 Malibu. Not rich, overeducated, morally superior, dot com, wine drinking, enviromental zealots who buy these expensive things as toys and to show off to the world.
.... meanwhile, the company loses money because they have to subsidize part of the price, the government gives them tax breaks to subsidize part of the price, & they get to zip through HOV lanes while claiming they are saving the enviroment.

(rant off).

 

I wonder if Rick Wagoner was one of Obama's supporters last November.

 

Nice.

 

have you guys ever heard of Rahal Letterman Racing?
http://www.rahal.com/

Yeah, I'd say Dave is a bit more knowledgeable about cars than he lets on...

 

That and his opponent went to Michigan made comparisons to "buggy factories" and stated that "the jobs aren't coming back". Which I'm sure nobody there really wanted to hear from a politician, even if it was obviously true.

Aside from whether "Industrial Policy is good thing or not, if a big item on your bottom line is health-care, it probably was not a difficult decision. Major corporations have realized this is a competitive problem for a long time, the holdup is the small businesses.