It’s not a totally surprising role for the former GM vice chairman, but it is a role he is taking on with more and more vociferousness as the car keeps getting attacked.
GM is sort of going into full-scale defend the Volt mode, with CEO Dan Akerson saying the car still has a future and a new series of completely positive commercials featuring Volt owners. Lutz recently wrote an article for Forbes defending his former company’s halo car (can we still call it that?) in which he attacked right-wing pundits for their misunderstanding of the car and its history. He recently wrote another column for Forbes that reveals a more passionate anger about how this saga – the one Lutz wanted to be a positive green legacy – is turning out. It’s a peek into Lutz’s mind about the situation. Some key quotes:
- “The Volt was largely my idea, and I was its undeniable champion. Work on it was started in 2006. Obama was elected in 2008.”
- “There may well have been some backroom discussions between GM and Fox [after Lou Dobbs and Bill O’Reilly said the Volt “catches fire”] because, oddly enough, shortly thereafter, quite a few Volt commercials ran on Fox for which I doubt any money was exchanged.”
- “Those who know me will vouch for my credentials as a conservative and vocal global warming skeptic. I spent 11 years as a Marine attack aviator trained and ready to take out Communists during the Cold War.”
- “So, the loony right has its jaws sunk into the Volt with all the stupid determination of a terrier who has locked his teeth into the mailman’s butt. And with the same result: painful, but without any useful purpose.”
Wow, huh?
