Picture from thecarconnection.com

One of the most fascinating leaders within the auto industry, personally, has been Bob Lutz who retired earlier this year. BusinessWeek’s David Welch wrote about Mr. Lutz at the time of his retirement. Many notable vehicles can trace their origins to him like the Dodge Viper. He has been in the industry for many years, working for Chrysler, BMW, Ford and most recently at General Motors.

Lutz has been working in the industry for 47 years but has been most known for his work in the past decade at GM. A former Marine pilot, Lutz is a no-nonsense guy who does not believe in Global Warming or government fuel economy standards but became the force behind the new Chevy Volt.

Many credit Lutz for focused GM back towards quality products when he first entered the company in 2001. He has consistently pushed for better quality design and materials in all of GM’s products. Products like the newest Chevy Malibu and Cadillac CTS directly reflect his work for better GM products. When he arrived at GM, they were building hopeless vehicles like the Pontiac Aztek and within a decade they were producing impressive products and pushing new technologies with the Chevy Volt. Lutz’s primary role at GM was one of product development but at the time of his retirement was Vice Chairman and a senior advisor at General Motors.

David Welch expresses concern with the exit of Lutz. He sees no one else within the company who fights for quality designs and interiors the way Lutz has done. Considering GM’s eagerness to repay distance themselves from government loans and return better profits to their shareholders, GM leadership could be tempted to cost cut and cheapen designs without Lutz’s voice.

I disagree with this fear and truly believe GM, like the others within the Big Three, understand the need for more competitive products. What Lutz did was convince GM to invest in design and push the company to sacrifice production costs to future sales. The reason I mention Mr. Lutz is because his job is my dream job, working with the design department to create vehicles like the Cadillac CTS and Chevy Volt seems to be a very rewarding career.

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/2010/03/bob_lutz_retires_from_gm_long_live_his_influence.html

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/having-reinvigorated-design-at-gm-bob-lutz-is-retiring/19382022/