[HoosierRon]

GM's Lutz Says Alternative Autos May Be Third of Sales by 2015

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. may get as many as one-third of its U.S. auto sales by about 2015 from vehicles such as hybrids that use technology different than current internal-combustion engines, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said.

``Around 2015 we're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids whether people want them or not,'' because of new U.S. fuel- economy standards, Lutz told reporters today in Washington. ``It's basically going to result in the quasi-disappearance of V-8 engines.''
...
Lutz said he expects GM to sell about 100,000 Volts by 2012. He repeated that the company's cost to meet the U.S. law's 35-mpg average will be $6,000 to $7,000 per vehicle.

 

[GMFreak8]

I rather go bankrupt then not have at least one v8 powered vehicle in my driveway. The market should be deciding if v8s are not viable, not some law dictated by clueless government lawmakers.

 

[Joevette]

i think this is more of his scare tactic to get us to elect new gov. officals cause obviously hes sh!tting on the ones there right now who are f-ng things up for them. The gov. is essentially forcing these technology onto the public.

 

[Hitman1970]

Does anyone really think the political science majors that run this country give a crap about V-8 engines? Science is mystical scary stuff to these morons.

 

[chakis24]

i think its a scare tactic. if someone has a v8, everyone will have a v8. all complanies need to get rid of it if its going to disappear. there are people that want it andnothing else. why lose the market share?

 

[member12]

I think Lutz is trying to get people angry at the government.

I already am, Bob.

The market should be driving GM's decision to supply buyers with fuel efficient cars. We should have a choice.

 

[ctaylorzl1]

I think Lutz is trying to get people angry at the government.

I already am, Bob.

The market should be driving GM's decision to supply buyers with fuel efficient cars. We should have a choice.

Totally agree!

 

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

Yea, the government did a terrific job responding to Katrina. They've proved themselves, we can trust them to design cars.

 

[asrapid]

"quasi-disappearance of V-8 engines"..Maybe in GM lineup..i don't see Mercedes, Bmw , Audi, Lexus,Hyundai,Infiniti, Jaguar etc. dropping their V8 engines.

 

[I-Love-Pontiac]

i think this is more of his scare tactic to get us to elect new gov. officals cause obviously hes sh!tting on the ones there right now who are f-ng things up for them. The gov. is essentially forcing these technology onto the public.

Elect who? No one gives a **** about the American automakers anymore. They've all bought into the media's anti GM propaganda. Which isn't all that surprising. Just look at Fox News, the supposedly American loving news channel will jump on the first opportunity to report bad news about GM. And at the same time they LOVE to report good news on Toyota.

The only presidential candidate who even mentioned the automakers (and not talking about giving them more regulations) was Mitt Romney.

 

[chevyboy88]

I don't think that GM will discontinue vehicles such as the corvette or other high end cars with v8's but I do think that vehicles like the camaro and g8 that are priced so that the average joe can afford will be very hard to buy with a v8 by 2015.

 

[megeebee]

On the whole, I'm a fan of Mr. Lutz. But this sounds a lot like US auto execs of the 60's and 70's companining about regulations that are all a matter of course today.

At the rear of every large trailer on commercial interstate tractor-trailer rigs is a low bar. It is there to keep a car from sliding under the trailer in the event of a rear end collision. When the government wanted this added back in the late 60's Lee Iaccoca railed that it would bankrupt the industry.

He was, evidently, wrong.

What would help though, is more competition at the supplier level. If there were more companies manufacturing and researching the issue, costs to the automaker might be lowered.

 

[tgagneguam]

I think GM gives Lutz a longer leash than most executives because his statements are believed to achieve what I think he wants them to achieve: they're provocative. I'm not so sure that that's going to achieve much, though.

Allow a free market to move today's gasoline prices to $5.00/gallon in today's dollars, and you will definitely see industry achieve significant gains in fuel efficiency, all without a single drop of ink used to pen burdensome, misguided federal legislation supported by people beholden to everyone other than the citizens who put them in office.

I'd like to see a presidential candidate who truly believes in and supports free markets and free citizens. That alone will aid Detroit in fantastically substantive ways that more legislation, be it CAFE regulations or national healthcare, will never hope to be able to achieve. That will not happen with ultra-liberal Obama, liberal Clinton, or liberal McCain. Looks like I'll be exercising the "write-in" option... again.

 

[Ach]

I think Lutz is trying to get people angry at the government.

I already am, Bob.

The market should be driving GM's decision to supply buyers with fuel efficient cars. We should have a choice.

I agree with you. The problem, however, is that no one else is complaining publicly (in fact Lutz's comments come just as Honda announces its first-ever V8 in a production car). This makes GM look like a crybaby who can't engineer a solution the way the others can.

 

[CamaroCrazy]

There will still be V8s, but its probably going to go back to the way it was 7-10 years ago, where if you want a V8 and some power, you have to buy a luxury car or a SUV/Pickup. Except this time there will be greater gas guzzler taxes and fines on automakers for missing CAFE targets, and the consumer will be dealing with $3+ gas, and not $1 gas from like in the late 90s that fed the SUV craze.

This is exactly why I'm keeping my Z28 forever. My daily driver in 2015 may be some hyrbidized gas-sipping appliance, but at least I still have the V8 hot rod in the garage that reminds me what cars are supposed to be about.

 

[F14CRAZY]

I agree that consumers and the market should control what vehicles consumers buy and manufacturers make, NOT the government.

 

[EldoFan]

Lets see Putz.....do you want people angry at you or the government??

 

[gmlifer]

Elect who? No one gives a **** about the American automakers anymore. They've all bought into the media's anti GM propaganda. Which isn't all that surprising. Just look at Fox News, the supposedly American loving news channel will jump on the first opportunity to report bad news about GM. And at the same time they LOVE to report good news on Toyota.

The only presidential candidate who even mentioned the automakers (and not talking about giving them more regulations) was Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney was the only car guy in the race. His Dad was head of the old American Motors

 

[ANT]

ughhhh lutz just shut up and get sweet cars into production... if you think about it, it really doesnt mean anything. I guess we will never see the Chevy aveo SS with 5.3 in it. out of the 22 CARS(including the camaro) that gm makes 10 are available with V8's. 4 of which are cadillacs which i will discount because they are a lux brand and no other luxury brand is going to discontinue its v8 program.

so that leaves 6 cars with v8s. only one, the vette, is a v8 only. the rest are optional. Also the NEXTGEN Lacrosse is EPII so that means V8 goes BYe BYe. Subtract another one (5of22) and keep the lucerne's v8 under the assumption that if the zeta PA shows up there be a 8 under the hood.... okay at this point i'm beginning to lose focus, bottom-line all the cars available with v8s are there because there is a demand. none of the v8 cars are volume vehicles(in v8 form). so seriously its not like GM has 8 cylinders available in every car and there optional in all except one. It doesn't seem like V8;s own the market at this point to me.

 

[DoomsDave]

"...we're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids whether people want them or not"

Another great quote from Lutz.