Redesigning General Motors with style, energy
Royal Ford
The Boston Globe

Bob Lutz sat down with the Globe for a wide-ranging interview at the New York International Auto Show earlier this month.

Here is an edited transcript of that interview:

Before you came to GM, you came to visit the New England Motor Press Association and you said, hypothetically, that if you ever had clout at GM, you'd get rid of Oldsmobile and make Cadillac a world-class car. That has happened. So what are you going to do with Buick?

I doubt I had anything to do with either of those because the Oldsmobile decision was made before I got there and Cadillac was well on its way to renewed health. But Buick will respond to treatment. We're seeing already that it's no longer seen as a vehicle purely for older people. Just like the Cadillac Sixteen signaled where Cadillac would like to go in terms of style and prestige, so the Velite [a concept convertible] signals the style and direction for Buick. The first production car that will be available in a few months of course is the Buick LaCrosse, which replaces the Regal but is a significantly new car. And that's going to be the first car that's a real car, as opposed to a concept car, that illustrates the new Buick virtues of a very luxurious experience . . . wonderful leathers, nice wood, beautiful little chrome details, German-style fit and finish; very, very silent inside, sort of what I call Lexus-like silence.

What would be the design cue for Buick?

A combination of grille and very fluid lines. . . . We missed it on the LaCrosse, but all the others are going back to the Buick portholes [the gill-like, chrome-encircled rings above the front fenders just ahead of the firewalls that defined earlier Buicks] as a feature element. It will be sort of back to the future in that the six-cylinder models will have three portholes and the eight-cylinder models will have four portholes. I was opposed to the portholes but when I saw the Maserati Quattroporte stole our portholes, I said, "That's it, now portholes go back on everything."

The next version of the GTO: Any changes coming there?

It depends on what you mean by the next version. We will have an '05, which is still basically the same body but with some very significant changes which I think will surprise and please some people.

You haven't said what they are. Hood scoop?

We're not saying, but we always knew that with a car like the GTO, you can't stand still. The next generation is a few years out so it's still too early to talk about, but the GTO will be a permanent fixture with Pontiac.

What's fueling the demand for power and rear-wheel drive these days?

People have disposable income, we have now crossed over the point where front-wheel-drive cars are optimal and that point is probably around 300 horsepower and bags of torque. I think you can tune a front-wheel-drive car to where it still feels fine at 250 horsepower -- the Saab 9-5 proves that, the 9-3 proves that -- but you get into the big stuff 300-plus horsepower, then you need rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.

You introduced a new Cadillac today that has an option for all-wheel drive. How important is all-wheel drive going to become across everything you do at General Motors?

I have gone full-circle. I was at Ford of Europe when we did the Sierra and Scorpio all-wheel-drive, Europe-only cars. I was convinced after the huge success of the Audi quattro. We were second with a high-performance, all-wheel-drive car. I loved driving it, it was a sensational driving experience, and I thought, "Man, this is the way of the future." And it turned out it really wasn't because the added weight and complexity robbed so much performance and fuel economy that you really kind of questioned whether it makes sense under a lot of circumstances. When I got to GM there was quite a desire to get all-wheel-drive versions [of certain models] and I looked at the bill and said we really don't need this. . . . So everybody agreed with me and we put it to sleep. In the meantime, a funny thing happened. It's really taking off in the Northeast and BMW sells 35 percent of their volume in all-wheel drive; Audi and Subaru are 100 percent. Now I had to tell the guys that may have been one of my less-good decisions. . . . We've got to double back and put it into more vehicles.

Where are small cars going to fit in? You've got the Cobalt, which says to me, small car, young driver.

Yeah, that's going to be a really slick car. This was our effort where we said, "Pull out all the stops." We are going to demonstrate to Americans and the world that the US can build a small car that's as good as any produced anywhere in the world. With this car, we truly had the vision of doing the best small car, the quietest, the most refined, the best handling, the most fun to drive, the best interior. The one thing I don't want is for the press to say, "Yeah, greatly improved over the Cavalier, but that isn't saying much. This vehicle still falls well short of the international standard for high-quality small cars such as the Volkswagen Golf, the Honda Civic." If anybody says, "Well, it's not bad, but it's still not at the level of the Japanese small cars," if that's the reaction, I frankly don't know what I'd do for my next number.

http://www.boston.com/cars/articles/...le_energy?pg=2


Interesting about the 300hp and FWD limit. Isnt the GXP GP getting a 325hp 5.3? Hrmmmmm... AWD?

 

not likely...

 

IMO, it's probally going to be in the 275-295hp range.

Seems my info on the 2005 GTO pans out.

 

i've actually seen some excellent pics of a GTO with a hood. i think it was carbon fiber and custom made, but it sure does set the car apart. let me find some pics
http://www.norcal-ls1.com/multimedia...t=1&thecat=500
http://www.norcal-ls1.com/multimedia...t=1&thecat=500
http://www.norcal-ls1.com/multimedia...t=1&thecat=500
http://www.norcal-ls1.com/multimedia...t=1&thecat=500

i got them from GasTiresandOil at ls1tech.com i'm assuming its his car. the last pic shows a comparison.

 

That hood looks horrible. I actually would rather have the smooth looking stock one.

 

are you questioning me? joking, i know you meant that in a good way. i think its alot better from the smooth hood. even if it is ugly, its more aggressive, and thats what i think of when i think gto, aggressive.

 

that is exactly the type of hood I wanted to see on that car... edit: besides the fact the black vent things dont match the blue hood... fix that and youd have a beautiful hood.

 

I'm with him, that hood is trash .

I've seen better hoods than this one. And the wheels are hideous as well.

If I had to choose the flat hood or this Ram-Air hood, I'd take the flat one in a heart beat.

 

blah... every single scooped hood on that car looks horrible. GM, sorry, but you should have told the die-hards to sit and rotate.
[whine]The GTO needs hood scoops or its not a GTO[/whine]

please, the GTO doesnt need stupid goofy scoops. This car just doesnt look right with scoops on it. Give it the autox package as an option, but lets not do the scoops crap. Want scoops? Pep Boys has a sale, 2 for 10.99.
The last thing this needs is tacky scoops to bring Pontiac right back to the "scoops and cladding" days of old.

GM, say no to scoops for the GTO. Dual side exhaust, yes. LS2, yes, 5spd auto with autostick shifting, yes. Supercharger option, im all for it...just not scoops. But that could be just me.

 

How the fawk did that hood make it through to final development?! The sad thing is there are so many other ways you could design that hood with scoops to make it look 10x better. You mine as well have just taken a dump on, it would look just as good as that thing.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by guionM
IMO, it's probally going to be in the 275-295hp range.

Seems my info on the 2005 GTO pans out. [/QUOT

E]

Which is what??

 

Is that going to be the scoops? Its an improvement but not what I would have gone with. They took that right off the old GTO. Should have done like the 96 SS Camaro hood. They took the old design idea (from the old Z28's) and made it more modern looking.

 

no, thats an aftermarket hood. Ill say it again, the GTO does not need scoops. Maybe back in the 60's, but not now.

 

Pontiac needs classy clean styling like BMW. An M3 doesn't need scoops to look good. The GTO should be the same. The GTO needs clean lines, not hood scoops.

 

The GTO NEEDS scoops, it's that simple. Maybe not those, but it needs them.