Bob Lutz Fires Back About David Letterman's Derogatory Chevy Volt Remarks

This guy is just awesome. I wish Maximum Bob were 20-30 years younger and CEO. Perhaps then GM would have a better than 50% chance of returning to greatness post bankruptcy.

Hey grysko,

Based on market research across the US the average American commute is less than 40 miles per day. GM went with the 40 mile goal (which has been met by pre-production mules over a year ago) on pure electric to give its customers the ability to not use oil. Also having a battery pack that will support 40 miles on electric only allows the company to keep costs low (unlike the Tesla roadster which is right at $100k). Now should you go above 40 miles the ICE engine will fire up and provide electricity to power the electric motor until you are able to charge the battery pack again. This allows you to be able to drive across the nation stopping only to get gas, as you would with a standard gasoline vehicle but do so with better mileage. If you tried that with a Tesla you would have to stop for hours on end every 100 miles or so to charge the battery.

So really, which is the more logical solution to most Americans?

It is not fair at all to compare a 2 seat light weight sports car to a 4 seat compact sedan, especially if one is costing $100k and the other less than half of that.

BTW the Tesla manager knows all of this but didn't want to contradict Letterman on his own show. The solution GM has come up with is elegant and efficient. That is why GM is scheduled to supply Fisker will be using the GM 2.0 DI turbo 4 cylinder for its Karma sedan.

Instead of bashing things without knowledge, try doing a little research on a topic first. Otherwise you just come out looking like a stupid little kid.

the volt has the added weight of an engine on board that extends its range far beyond the tesla. the battery in the volt also never charges more than 80% full and never drops below 20% or 30%, this is done for warrenty issues, to make sure the battery lasts for many years, something tesla doesn't have to worrey about as much as GM, oh and there's also that pesky fact that the tesla coasts like 100k.

what a dumbass bob lutz is. this is the same clown who laughed at hybrid cars 5 years ago, killed the electric car program at GM because "noone would ever buy those and they would never make money with them"...oh, and invested a $ Billion into Hummer because Hummer, according to Bob Putz, was the future, not hybrid cars.

Tesla, a friggin company started in a garage by a bunch of computer geeks makes a car that destroyes the Volt to the point it's not even funny.

ROFL what a bonafide loser Lutz is. If I was him I would have quit my job in embarassment loooong ago.

just watched the video. Letterman is dead on correct. GM could have been making electric cars long ago. cars that would help make us energy independent and help us stop sending HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS to middle east for oil every year.

But Bob effing Putz didn't care about that. And now Tesla, Letterman and everyone else will make him pay for it.

Cry me a river Bob effing Putz

GM DID make electric cars years ago, they subsidized them and leased them to people. They did this because at that time the business case for electric cars was terrible! Then after GM did all of the good stuff with the EV1 project it had to stop the project because of a loss in profitability. Instead of getting good 'Prius-like' vibes from the greenies they get slammed because they 'killed the electric car'. Lets recall who make the only modern electric car in the US before Tesla came out with theirs around 10 years later, GM.

DinamoR, you are so ill informed it is difficult to not just flame you.

Bob Lutz is an expert in the auto industry who has worked across the globe. He wasn't even AT GM when the EV1 was killed (1999) because he started there in 2002.

Also if you will notice Tesla isn't exactly rolling in money. In fact some speculate the company will be dead by the end of the year and IF they ever produce their 4 seat sedan, the company may not be around to support it.

What? you're the uninformed one. go watch the move 'who killed the electric car'. it's free on youtube

DinamoR,

Are you honestly going to ask me to go watch a 2 hour propaganda piece written by people who have no idea about the car industry instead of looking things up for yourself?

That isn't even a documentary, it is an editorial. Surely you can come up with something better than that.

HAHAHAHA a propaganda piece? keep being a closed minded moron. keep watching faux noise channel and calling everyone else the uninformed one. Or maybe watch it and then come talk to me. Are you afraid to because they might have a point?

idiots like you crack me up.

I'm going to jump on the Lutz bashing bandwagon...

While I laud General Motors efforts they really are pitiful in the scheme of things. If GM had put a little bit of effort into developing more efficient batteries/motors they would have an electric car capable of 300-350 mi (wikipedia lists the EV1 as capable of 160 mi per charge. That was 1999!). I hope Tesla all the best with the Roadster and their forthcoming sedan.

What I worry about is that 10 or 20 years down the road car manufacturers still haven't produced electric or fuel cell vehicles for the masses. It's time for automotive companies to grab the challenges of the future by the horns and get to work.

letterman is right on.

bs. hopefully, somebody on Letterman's staff pulled him to the side and informed him that the Volt is more practical than the Tesla. And that his "on air" explanation of the Volt was wrong. Letterman is the jock doesn't read.

If you really want to listen to talk show hosts about cars, at least, listen to Jay Leno.

I agree with letterman. 40 miles ain’t enough. Everyone i talk to…lots of blue collar workers i work with agree….we want to be able to go to the mall and back on nothing but electric power….so i want a 100 mile range at the very least…150-200 miles would be awesome!
I think the average “joe” wants a lot more than 40 miles.
And the average “Joe” wants this Volt afordable..if its over $30,000 it won’t be.
And the revised sheetmetal is very boring to look at.One more thing…many of the “Other” car manufacturers are already bragging they can beat the 40 mile thing….i guess time will tell.

The average "Joe" is an idiot. 150-200 mile range isn't even available in a 100k plus electric car, let alone one that costs less than 30k. To think that you can have both right now is idiotic. Everyone seems to forget that the average "Joe" is the one who bought millions of SUVs in the 90's and early 2000's. The average "Joe" is the one to blame for not having electric cars because they didn't want to pay for them. They wanted their SUVs dangit, and if you're a car company without one, you don't get business and you're stupid. Now, 5 years later, if you don't have a hybrid, you deserve to die. The EV1 was a great step and GM should be applauded for trying, but if you produced a product that lost money, would you continue to produce it? The ONLY reason the Prius is still around is because gas went up. The first few production years LOST money. Wow, just like the EV1!! If gas prices hadn't gone up, the car would have died as well, just like the Insight did.

And you too have not gotten the information correct either.

The Volt can travel up to 40 miles on electricity alone. THEN, the engine will start-up to continuously recharge the batteries for additional range...somewhere in the range of 250-300 miles (?) with a full tank of gas.

GM is betting that most commuters won't travel 40 miles to-and-from work each day (that's a 20 mile or less commute to work). So, essentially, they won't even use a drop of gas in the car's tank. For example, if a person lives 10-15 miles from work, they could go months before needing to refill their gas tank. And if they only use the car to go to work, they would never need to use gas.

If your daily commute to work, drop the kids off, etc is more than 40 miles; then the Volt isn't for you. Get an Aveo, Fit, etc. for their tiny, fuel-sipping engines that get 35+ mpg combined (cty/hwy).

Crash worthy five passenger sedan with a trunk. Zero emission vehicle (ZEV) 100% electric or otherwise. Price: anything between 20K to 40K with tax incentives. Range after full charge: No less 100 miles regardless of average speed driven. Charge time: No more than 100 minutes. Max speed: no less 100 kilometers/hour. A 100 mile charge range is the preferred target required, 72% of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day and 98% drive less than 100 miles per day.

Toyota already produced such car it was called the 1997-2003 RAV4 EV.

Like him or not, Bob Lutz brings new-found interest, if not outright excitement to EVERY brand he has worked with. He did it at Chrysler when he was there in the late 90s (Neon, Prowler, Viper, LH sedans) and he did it at GM in the mid 00s (Malibu, Enclave, ZR1). He has his ways but so does every other genius that ever lived. Yes, I call him a genius. Go ahead a blame him for killing an electric car programme at a time when Americans wouldn't buy a car that gave more than 20mpg. AT THE TIME it made no sense. Then again, some of you people around here know ALL about making no sense, don't you?

letterman is a gap toothed fag.

you must LOVE him then.

Volt is just another product failure that GM has produced. Its failure after failure. Failed to implement and give a stable plan to our dear old President. The only objective that they had was to borrow and screw tax payers money.

For those who back GM...get a platinum Dildo and screw it back to your sorry A$$! There's no excuse for failure.