NEW YORK — For the second time in nine days, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has used the bully pulpit of the GMFastLane blog to let the world in on the progress of the electric Chevrolet Volt. "There's a lot of work yet to be done [especially] getting a totally reliable battery pack," Lutz said.
While that message had been put forth before, Lutz revealed that "every two weeks [we] have an E-Flex leadership meeting. I want to know personally where the problems are. Any bad news that comes up, we want to know right away."
This blog, a YouTube video of the Volt Nation Town Hall meeting in New York on March 19, showed Lutz as a speaker, taking questions from a largely fawning audience.
Lutz seemed to reassure the crowd that General Motors is in the hands of the creative minds, not the bean counters. "The whole creative side of GM has been 'relegitimized,' " Lutz insisted, apparently coining a new word. "When you are cautious, you lose. That lesson is deeply embedded in the organization. I don't think there is any risk of the company slipping back into the bad old ways." He insisted there would be "armed insurrection" if GM backslid.
Lutz offered his take on why Toyota beat GM to the punch with such hybrids as the Prius. "At Toyota, the CEO's name is on the building," he explained. "We are beholden to the shareholders." He also reached back into the distant past to point out GM's history with electric vehicles, going back to the late 1960s, when "we demonstrated a fully electric vehicle." Lutz apparently was referring to the battery-powered electric concept Electrovair.
What this means to you: So now you know that the Volt team meets every two weeks — more reassurance that the electric car may end up in your driveway by the end of the decade. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
While that message had been put forth before, Lutz revealed that "every two weeks [we] have an E-Flex leadership meeting. I want to know personally where the problems are. Any bad news that comes up, we want to know right away."
This blog, a YouTube video of the Volt Nation Town Hall meeting in New York on March 19, showed Lutz as a speaker, taking questions from a largely fawning audience.
Lutz seemed to reassure the crowd that General Motors is in the hands of the creative minds, not the bean counters. "The whole creative side of GM has been 'relegitimized,' " Lutz insisted, apparently coining a new word. "When you are cautious, you lose. That lesson is deeply embedded in the organization. I don't think there is any risk of the company slipping back into the bad old ways." He insisted there would be "armed insurrection" if GM backslid.
Lutz offered his take on why Toyota beat GM to the punch with such hybrids as the Prius. "At Toyota, the CEO's name is on the building," he explained. "We are beholden to the shareholders." He also reached back into the distant past to point out GM's history with electric vehicles, going back to the late 1960s, when "we demonstrated a fully electric vehicle." Lutz apparently was referring to the battery-powered electric concept Electrovair.
What this means to you: So now you know that the Volt team meets every two weeks — more reassurance that the electric car may end up in your driveway by the end of the decade. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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