Bob Lutz Sounds Off On Latest Chevrolet Silverado
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Bob Lutz, a man who doesn’t shy away from saying what he feels, had some things to say about the T1-generation Chevrolet Silverado. That is the new truck that began for the 2019 model year.
The former GM product chief spoke with Automotive News (subscription required) and in an interview published Sunday, had some things for GM to chew on.
“I think the product could have been better,” Lutz began. From there, he took shots at the uninspired interior that so many have bemoaned about since the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado debuted. The 87-year-old industry titan said during his nine years at GM he was certain he “cured” GM of cost-cutting for interiors. He explained he always preached to GM executives that money spent inside is money well spent.
“I tried to convince GM that the interior is where the buyer spends the ownership period, not the outside,” Lutz recalled.
That said, he noted the new Silverado is probably a great truck from the engineering side of things, but there’s little doubt the customer will likely be disappointed by the interior. Putting resources into the cabin, where the customer sees and touches things most of the time, is crucial. Here, Lutz alluded that GM dropped the ball, and compared the new Silverado’s interior to the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500.
He called the Ram’s cabin “drop-dead gorgeous” and even gave the Silverado’s exterior a minor shellacking. “It doesn’t have the same visual impact” as the Ford or Ram, Lutz commented. The F-150 is also one product cycle behind the latest Silverado.
On if Chevy’s third-place finish in the sales race should worry GM, Lutz said he’s not close enough to the numbers to know if Ram is truly spending too much to “buy” market share. However, if the Silverado remains a “hard sell,” it definitely worries Lutz.
He wrapped things up with an overarching slap to GM interior design and compared the ethos to the designs that pre-dated his arrival.
“I cannot believe that GM is trying to get away with these low-cost interiors.”
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Source: Automotive News
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Went to see my dealer and new 19 Silverados are being discounted up to 14,000.
Good to hear Bob telling it like it is again.
The no-compete, no-negative-speak clause must have finally expired from his GM contract. I always felt he was going soft on them while they were regressing…