MONTICELLO, New York — As part of GM's new "May the Best Car Win" marketing campaign, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently challenged any journalist or private citizen to a duel with the Cadillac CTS-V and its competition. In a posting on the GM FastLane blog on Thursday following that race here, Lutz declared, "There were no winners or losers today." Manufacturers including Audi , BMW, Jaguar and Mitsubishi apparently went home with their self-esteem intact following the GM-sponsored event.
In reality, GM noted that top honors at the race here went to GM Performance Division Executive John Heinricy in the Cadillac CTS-V. In what appears to be a shining moment for anyone with an AARP membership, Lutz, 77, finished seventh, "10 seconds behind a pro driver in a CTS-V," said GM in an e-mail to reporters late Thursday.
"I'll have to issue another challenge so I can do this again sometime soon, although I wish I had started doing these when I was younger," wrote Lutz.
The CTS-V racked up six of the top seven fastest laps in the event, with the BMW M3 taking the No. 4 position.
The reaction to Lutz's performance was mixed. One blogger on cadillacforums.com said: "I think this was a humbling experience for Bob as he said that HE would beat anyone in a CTS-V." Some auto Web sites griped that the competition thought the deck was stacked and noted that Jaguar pulled its XFR from the event. The BMW M5 came in 8th, the Mitsubishi Evo took the 9th position, while the Jaguar XF came in 11th, followed by the Audi RS4 in last place, according to GM.
Inside Line says: Lutz may replace Sting as the hot new guy in AARP circles after this event. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
Add A Comment »
yellowmiata says:
05:34 AM, 11/05/2009
A week later we still don't have an update? Where are the IL journalists when a BMW isn't the top dog?
braco says:
10:58 AM, 11/02/2009
This article fails to mention that a 21-year old driving and M3 won the challeng. The challeng rules said that no professionals would be allowed. The top 3 times in the CTS-V were posted by professional drivers, and therefore do not count. Since no other manufacturer brough pro drivers, GM shouldn't have even allowed their pros to race. But it's their show and they can do what ever they want, but at the end of the day a car that is down 150+hp to the CTS-V and driven by a regular guy won.
TPAWRX says:
04:55 PM, 11/01/2009
Has it come across anyone's mind that the mystery driver Johnny O'Connell could be Top Gear's Stig?
davesuton says:
03:19 AM, 11/01/2009
Who let the madesoshity evo in? They didn't have a chance with that airport rental car
kingisback350 says:
11:42 AM, 10/31/2009
I can not believe they give credit to some highschool kid with a brand new bmw m3!!! His daddy baught him that car and it sucks that he can drive it and the rest of us have to dream about it... They are the worst because they don't even apreciate good cars...
eldaino2 says:
10:44 AM, 10/31/2009
jays83:
are you serious? do you know ANYTHING about the mitsubishi evo? like at all? do you know anything about any of the cars there with the exeption of the cts-v?
your comment is ignorance at its finest.
cr_driver says:
09:57 AM, 10/31/2009
How can someone complain that their ford taurus (no matter the engine) wasnt chosen to compete here? hahahaha hahaha, that made me laugh a lot.
How can this same fellow compares an evo to a corolla? (when he says why not choose a corolla as well?) The evo its an amazing car (handling,grip) in case u havent noticed, thou of course I agree it shouldnt had to be in there.
When someone is bitter, it definitely shows LOL.
Someone is Jay83gsl by the way LOL.
87bonnev says:
08:48 AM, 10/31/2009
Full Disclosure: I am a GM employee, and I worked on CTS-V 1 & 2 chassis.
The whole thing was a publicity stunt, and it worked. All the blogs covered it excessively. Some BMW's, AUdis, etc showed up, and times were close. It accomplished its goal, which was to get your attention.
epbrown says:
07:06 AM, 10/31/2009
This was such a mess. Lutz originally challenged anyone to show up with their own car, stock, and beat his time in the CTS-V. If any manufacturers wanted to send their cars with pros, then GM would send out the CTS-V with same. So a kid in a stock M3 beats his time, fair and square, and a GM development driver "won"?
desmolicious says:
07:14 PM, 10/30/2009
So basically only professional racers in a CTS-V can beat a regular dood in a BMW M3.... in a CTS-V can beat a regular dood in an M3...