Here is the transcribed phone interview between GMInsidenews Journalist and Staff Member ChevroletRevived and Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors. The original story broke a few hours ago, HERE, in a GM Inside News Exclusive!
GMInsidenews.com Exclusive
Interview with Vice Chairman Bob Lutz
GMI: Mr. Lutz, thank you for talking with GM Inside News. I’ll get straight to the topic and ask you if the spy shot of a shorter Camaro indicates that a four cylinder range, perhaps called Camaro Monza, is due in 2011 or 12?
Lutz: Well we don’t talk specifics about future product but I did recently mention that a four cylinder turbo engine could find it’s way into a Camaro.
GMI: And would such a Camaro also incorporate considerable changes from the V6 and V8 models, such as a shorter tail, high tech live axle and plastic parts?
Lutz: Again not answering specifically, but GM has been a leader in technology for most of it’s existence so I think you should not be surprised if we use a lot of innovation, such as alluded to in reports of this spy shot, in order to meet these unwise CAFÉ requirements while creating cars that our customers want to own. Let me say this, GM will be using many technologies to lower the weight of existing and future vehicles while maintaining safety. And plastic and alloy parts will play their role in that process.
GMI: Yes you are well known for you opposition to CAFÉ, but can’t a case be made that if GM is now going to use such innovation to meet CAFÉ then it could be a good thing and that we may well see better cars emerge as a result.
Lutz: No that’s a crock of...well...let’s just say that if a Gas Tax were put on imported oil then the customers would tell us through their demand what they want, instead we are having to guess. Look, I’m an old guy who doesn’t sleep as well as I used to so I like nothing more than to start the day with a pre-dawn jet fighter flight over the Great Lakes. I get out there flying low in the dark and when I light up the afterburner the flame reflections off the wave tops makes it look like a sea of gold. It’s beautiful. But I’m pumping a gallon of fuel a second. I can use more fuel in one flight than a family car does in a year! But there is no CAFÉ on me. Why when fuel gets wasted in so many ways do the politicians pick on the auto industry? It’s because we are an easy target. A Gas Tax on all imported oil would be a catch all. Even I would find that kerosene from imported oil would be less attractive than say home grown bio-diesel and other American made renewable fuels that a jet turbine engine can be converted to run on. A Gas Tax on imported oil is the answer. It’s just that this government has made tax a dirty word. But we have good taxes such as on tobacco, which is designed to stop people consuming it. Equally if we want people to stop consuming imported oil, which is sending us broke as a country by the way, then a tax on it would be a good tax.
GMI: That’s very interesting. Mr. Lutz I was wondering whether you have ever visited GMInsidenews.com?
Lutz: Actually, and this may surprise you, but I’m a member. That’ll give you something to think about.
GMI: Yes it does. Are you a very active member?
Lutz: Well I don’t visit all that often but when I do a like to have fun. I guess you could call me a bit of a board flamer starting fights and all, and I like to pretend I disagree with all my decisions, and that I’m an activist against me. That way I draw out peoples real opinions on things that the team and I have been doing. Mind you people call me lots of nasty things but it’s not much different than they do about my real persona. (Laughs…) You need thick skin in my job.
GMI: That’s fascinating. You don’t happen to pretend to be a Buick dealer?
Lutz: No… I pretend to be something else, not that.
GMI: Oh.. On another controversial issue among enthusiasts, do you have a preference for what to name the G8 ST?
Lutz: Look I’ve been a fan of Holden’s Ute from the get go so I don’t care what they call it as long as it gets here. I think that when people drive it then they will get it.
GMI: But ever since you leaked through one of our members, MonaroSS, that the Ute would not be a Chevy, it has caused quite a stir. Are you not even leaning one way or another?
Lutz: Who’s this Monaro guy?
GMI: He’s one of the prominent photochoppers on GMI, you may know him by his real name.
Lutz: Oh you mean Nubby the Aussie. Yes, very talented. But what a crock to be inflicted by a birth defect like that. Always having to sit down to take a whiz!
GMI: Oh I, sorry ... didn't know that...
Lutz: Yes, just the other day Nubby sent me this clever chop. It was typical of his twisted sense of humour. You know, he made it look just like it was one of our own camo'd test cars. We had a good laugh over that one!
So tell me, how'd a nice girl like you become a reporter for GMI?
GMI: Sorry Mr. Lutz, but I’m a guy.
Lutz: WHAT?! Ahem...you know the Marines could help you with that problem boy. If they can't drop that voice of yours an octave or two nobody can!
Anyway, I hope you got what you needed. I've got a few thousand pound of jet fuel to burn today. That should help make the globe warm and toasty.
GMI: Thanks Mr. Lutz and a happy first of April to you too!
Written by MonaroSS, Edited by ChevroletRevived. Thanks to MonaroSS for putting this together!