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Bob Lutz Talks CTS-V, Volt, Super Cruise, XLR, And More In Interview: Video

In an interview hosted by Classic Car Club Manhattan, the legendary Bob Lutz sat down with automotive journalist Bob Sorokanich and had quite a captivating discussion. The wide-ranging interview covers topics like the development of the Dodge Viper, the Ford Explorer, and Lutz’s mild obsession with panel gaps. For our purposes, we’ll cover the GM-related highlights of the discussion. Regardless of the brand the former GM Vice Chairman is talking about, the whole interview is required listening for any car enthusiast.

Here are the GM-related highlights and their time signatures if you’d like to skip to that portion of the interivew in the YouTube video.

Cadillac CTS-V

Cadillac CTS-V

16:33

“The Cadillac V-Series helped re-establish Cadillac as a serious contender in the battle against the German luxury cars,” Lutz says of the performance subbrand that’s celebrating its 20th anniversary. He talks about the original Cadillac CTS-V and the challenges of convincing Cadillac leadership to put a Chevy small block V8 in the CTS. They wanted a multi-cam “noble engine” resembling the Northstar V8, but the Northstar didn’t fit in the CTS. He describes the first-gen CTS-V as “a limited success, but it got everybody’s attention.”

The second generation was when the CTS-V came into its own. Discussion of the second-gen CTS-V segued into a classic Bob Lutz story of Lutz issuing a challenge to Cadillac’s German rivals to bring its best sport sedans to the Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York to challenge the new-at-the-time CTS-V. The German manufacturers all declined, but enthusiasts and automotive journalists showed up and the CTS-V proved itself as a serious high-performance luxury car that could beat the Germans at their own game. Lutz describes it as “the moment of truth” for the CTS-V. “The car was fully track-capable, showroom stock.”

Bob Lutz with the Chevy Volt

Chevy Volt

58:53

Bob Lutz has said it before, but he repeats in this interview that in his sprawling career of creating some of the most iconic performance cars of all time, his favorite program he’s ever worked on was the Chevy Volt. The discussion begins with the controversial decision to use lithium-ion batteries and head-butting with Toyota. “Toyota spent a lot of time and energy calling press conferences and saying ‘Pay no attention to the Chevrolet Volt. It’s a PR exercise. Lithium-ion batteries are dangerous. We at Toyota would never expose our customers to a car with a lithium-ion battery in it…we have it on good informaion that GM will never produce the Chevy Volt.’ That was the official word.”

Lutz then goes into the development of the Volt’s battery pack in collaboration with LG and why it was different than the “laptop batteries” in the Tesla Roadster. He also talks about some guys from the EV1 program being involved with Volt development, the unpopularity of the Volt among GM’s elite, and the company’s insistence at the time that hydrogen fuel cells were the future. “The Volt was my favorite program,” Lutz explains, “because it stretched the limits of what GM was capable of.”

Super Cruise

Super Cruise

1:11:04

An answer to a question about Tesla turned into glowing praise for Super Cruise, GM’s hands-free driving system. This is also where Lutz tells us his choice of daily driver. “[Super Cruise] is true hands-free driving. You don’t have to keep a hand on the steering wheel…I’ve got a GMC Yukon, and I love driving it on fully automatic.” He explains how Super Cruise works and charmingly tells the audience he can smoke a cigar while cruising at 83 mph on Michigan highways. Sorokanich points out that it’s amusing that Bob Lutz, the ultimate car guy, is so bullish on semi-autonomous, hands-free driving.

Cadillac XLR

Cadillac XLR

1:13:40

An attendee asked why the Cadillac XLR didn’t make the same impact as a halo car as the Dodge Viper. Lutz thinks the Corvette-based Cadillac roadster would’ve been a better halo car “if they had hewn more closely to the original concept car.” He was referring to the Cadillac Evoq concept that debuted at the 1999 Detroit Auto Show. Wayne Cherry, the design chief of GM at the time, “lost control of design at GM. Design was delegated to the various vehicle line executives. The guy who was in charge of the XLR program looked at the design and said, ‘It’s good enough.’ Wayne Cherry says, ‘It’s awful. It looks like a [expletive] Corn Flakes box.’ And to a certain extent, he was right.”

Then, the father of the Dodge Viper, one of automotive history’s most iconic halo cars, explained what makes a halo car work. “If you’re gonna do a halo car, it’s gotta be not just equal to the competition. It’s gotta be demonstrably better…the Cadillac XLR was a nice car, but it wasn’t best-in-class.” Additionally, Lutz believes if the XLR “had come out initially in [V-Series] form, that would’ve worked.”

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Comments

  1. “There are almost no car guys in car companies.” We know, we see it on the products they spit out. And the same thing is happening in the entertainment and gaming industries, too. Enough people recognize poorly crafted products when they see them, even if they cannot articulate exactly why they recognize this or don’t like a product.

    Reply
  2. Finished the entire video. Fantastic interview and I am now ashamed to admit that I have not spent more time researching and listening to Mr. Lutz in the past. Definitely a businessman and person to study and learn from. Very impressive.

    Reply
    1. Mary Barra should be shown the door and the door should be open for Mr Lutz to run GM. The company is making suv’s cuv”s not caring about what the consumer wants. Just forcing crap with a choking price sticker for people struggle to pay.

      Reply
  3. Lutz is the man! I always delight in learning from his time at GM and other automakers.

    Reply
  4. Lutz is one of the smartest guys around. Did he get sone things wrong yes that was because he took a chances.

    He admits he is not always tight and he says yes bean counters are needed but they and the car guys need balance yo prevent each from themselves. If you have not read his books Ho out and get them.

    Yes now go.

    The XLR died because it was a slower and more expensive Corvette. The V series should have been the focus and it should have had more power than the Vette. Back then the Vette was cheaper and faster.

    Reply
  5. GM desperately needs a car guy or two high enough up to turn them around.

    GM needs to start being a car company again instead of a stock dividend return business.

    Reply
    1. the stock holders money pay for future car development so it is necessary

      Reply
      1. And here I thought making and selling cars did that……

        Reply
  6. The industry is awash in Casper Milk Toast characters who are likely on a steady diet of Washington sourced water crest sandwiches.
    If I’m not mistaken, Lutz was once a fighter pilot.
    ‘Nuff said.

    Reply
    1. 91 years old. Lutz is one of the best that brought excitement to GM. Doing an hour long interview smoking a cigar, not seeing invisible people, and sharp as a tac unlike the eggplant we all know.

      Reply
  7. Lutz = Car guy +Exitement = Pontiac!

    Reply
  8. The truth is the entire market need cars guys.

    The consumers are more buying for utility, safety, mileage and affordability.

    It used to be muscle cars sold in the 100 of thousands now it’s 10s of thousands. Even back in the day they were not the cheapest models to buy or insure. Today it is no different.

    Also the fact many of today’s models are as fast or faster than many muscle cars. My wife’s Acadia is faster than my stock Chevelle SS was new. Today many cars are 310 hp net when back in the day it was 325 gross Hp.

    Add in regulations are killing V8 engines in most models even trucks at Ford and Ram.

    Reply
  9. GM: Gruel & Milk toast. Sad……………………………….

    Reply
  10. The Monticello Motor Club. I was invited to race the 3 versions of the 2012 CTS-V. I left in my 2004 GTO to drive home and I was a little bummed out.

    Reply
  11. For a period of 6 years I sold Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC vehicles in metro Detroit and low and behold I received a pep order across my desk for a man by the name of Robert Lutz. Yes, it was that bob Lutz. Obviously he wasn’t the one that picked up the vehicle and he didn’t sign any of the paperwork in person, but I wrote him a letter and asked if he had time to meet with me. I received a letter back with a day to meet him at his house just outside Ann arbor. I got to sit down with him for an hour and talk. It was really cool. The next day when I went back in to work I was grilled by the dealership groups upper management about why I wanted to meet with him and what we talked about.

    Reply
    1. Bob would personally answer each and every Email he got. He was brief but he personally responded not an underling.

      Reply
    2. Superb story. Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
  12. Lutz really transformed GM. Whether it was Pontiac Solstices or G8s, Cadillac V-series cars, Camaros and Corvettes, or Chevy Volts or the forgotten SSRs, he produced a lot of distinctive and exciting vehicles.

    While some lines like the V-series survived, they never evolved to be hyper-competitive so as to pull off another Monticello. The Volt died in standard GM fashion by bean-counter death, even though a serial hybrid would be so compelling right now. And we all know what happened to Pontiac.

    But maybe it’s just the end of an automotive era, where every year brought exciting new vehicles. Today, we get new bland and derivative EVs every year. Once you get past the quickness, they feel about as exciting as shopping for a vacuum cleaner or dishwasher.

    Reply
  13. What an interview!!! I enjoyed every second of it. GM certainly needs another female or male version of Bob Lutz. Would be great to have lunch or dinner with Bob Lutz. I would have lots of questions. Really enjoyed this. Great interview with a great man.

    Reply
  14. N400 : Bean popping death spiral.

    Reply
    1. It seems the bean counters always win at GM. When Lutz left, they regained control. They will argue that a successful business can be boring. Tesla and Apple are not as exciting as they used to be, but still cash cows.

      At least Mary Barra has kept the Corvette afloat for anyone interested in toys.

      Reply
  15. Bob is truly a great man and the quintessential automotive icon of our time. He has had a great impact on automotive design. The industry is very fortunate to still have him. Bob you’re the best my friend!

    Reply
  16. GM right now is run by two bean counters, Mark (the fake executive) Reuss and Mary Buick Envision Made in China-Barra who likes to discontinue budget models and replace them with expensive models that 70% of the public cannot afford. Mary Buick Envision Made in China-Barra is also continuing a GM tradition: Once GM gets a product right, they suddenly discontinue it.

    Reply
  17. remember the govt has more to do with the design of your car than the engineers at the car companies. that is why there are so many lawyers there

    Reply
  18. Lutz was hopelessly wrong about Tesla

    Reply
  19. Bob Lutz, thank you for building the Chevy VOLT. The Gen2 VOLT is still 15 years ahead of the industry. I just wish you would sit with the GM engineers and bean counters and tell them how the Gen3 VOLT should be designed and built!!

    Reply

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