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GM's sending out the foot soldiers to Washington to promote tax breaks that will help the 2011 Chevrolet Volt become reality--but at least one other soldier's taken a path through TV land to do the same. GM vice chairman Bob Lutz hit the "talk show" circuit last night, appearing on Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" show to plug the Volt shown off Tuesday in Detroit. Lutz isn't one to follow talking points in any public appearance--so when he talks about getting laid in the Volt by a different type of lady, you can be pretty sure it's his take and not a GM script doctor. Enjoy the video goodness this morning while you try to figure out your personal stance on the Volt, extended-range EV or "hybrid":
3 Responses to “Bob Lutz Takes On the Colbert Nation”
JKD
September 18th, 2008 - 10:59 amGreat stuff
Anyone else noticed that the die-cast Lutz gives out at the end is the old-looking Volt?
Abe
September 18th, 2008 - 2:22 pmColbert on global warming: “It’s just sunspot activity!”
Lutz: “In the opinion of about 32,000 of the world’s leading scientists, yes.”
I’m a fan of Lutz’s cars, but his comments on global warming are pretty dubious. First of all, note the irony of his enthusiastic agreement with a statement that Colbert is voicing satirically.
Of course, he has the right to disbelieve that CO2 causes warming. But the notion that thousands of “leading scientists” believe that sunspots are causing global warming is unsupported.
Presumably he is referring to the infamous Oregon petition, which amounted to an unscientific mail-in survey in which only a tiny fraction of the respondents appear to be legitimate (look it up on Wikipedia). And even though there are indeed a handful of skeptical climate scientists, they certainly don’t proclaim that sunspots are the actual cause for global warming.
Regardless, I can certainly understand that climate change is an awkward topic when you’re vice chair of a corporation that depends on gas-guzzling trucks and the promise of a cutting-edge hybrid car in equal degree. If it delivers as promised, the Volt really would be a significant advance and I hope GM does well with it.
JKD
September 19th, 2008 - 12:33 pmThis is the first time I heard Lutz talking and he’s obviously not as smart as I thought he was. After all, he’s driving this company to the ground, so what was I thinking…
I agree with Abe’s comment. And why does he have to be so defensive? He should just say that they respond to consumer needs (which they do have a hard time doing) Pretty much all human activity contributes to the global warming these days, there’s no need to artificially shield the car industry or blame it on the sun spots. We all need to be accountable for the choices we make. Any credibility he might have had is gone now - what a fool.
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