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Should Lutz Be Driving GM’s Marketing?

Beth Negus July 12th, 2009

GM is coming out of bankruptcy, and who’s overseeing the company’s marketing and communications efforts?

Bob Lutz, 77, the company’ vice chairman, who was pretty much retired when he was tapped for the role.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert on anything remotely automotive. I’m not a “car person” by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t care what I drive, to be honest, as long as it starts in the morning and gets me where I need to go. But the choice of Lutz doesn’t exactly scream bold new direction towards profitability, does it?

The Huffington Post has a very interesting opinion piece on the move. Writer Steve Parker say sure, Lutz is the right guy for the job….” if this were 1967 and gas was 30 cents a gallon.”

What’s your take?

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3 Comments to “Should Lutz Be Driving GM’s Marketing?”

David Donaldson Says:

July 13th, 2009 at 6:29 am

Lutz is the guy that will make the cars look like something you would want to buy. GM has no idea how to do that without him. It’s up to the engineers to make it green, blah, blah, blah.
P & P Says:

July 14th, 2009 at 10:07 am

In a counter to Steve Parker, the NY Times recently ran an article about the resurgence of the Camaro, which outsold their Cadillac and Buick lines in June ‘09. It will take more than one car to bring back the brand, but the success of the “new” Camaro proves that Lutz might be on to something; GM has to devlop a car that can burn rubber, but not gas.

Heck, after seeing the You Tube videos of this line, I have the sudden urge to tease up my hair, dig out an old Journey mix tape and take a test drive.
K D Says:

July 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am

Beth,

I haven’t read the Huffington opinion, but Bob Lutz has a passion for cars and vision to say the right things to the right people to ignite the ‘new’ GM. He is a leader and not exactly a typical Detroit auto exec. Give him, Fritz, and the design chief whose name escapes me right now but had a huge hand in the new Camaro the room to do their thing. You might not be a car guy, but some of us girls who know our wheels are willing to see what Lutz can do. GM has picked a lot worse than Bob Lutz in the past.

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