Lutz Defends General Motors' 60-Day-Guarantee Ads, Says Few Cars Will Be Returned

DETROIT — Fewer than 2 percent of the GM vehicles sold under the automaker's new 60-day money-back guarantee will be returned, predicted GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz in a Web chat on the GM FastLane blog on Monday afternoon. Lutz also defended the controversial use of the grandfatherly-looking GM Chairman Ed Whitacre Jr., 67, in the ads.

When asked during the Web chat whether Whitacre is "too old" to represent a company trying to attract a younger demographic to its products, Lutz responded: "The Ed Whitacre ad is not designed to tout GM products. It is simply designed to launch the 60-day guarantee."

He said that "early surveys show a 14 percent shift in willingness to consider GM."

When asked what will become of the returned vehicles, Lutz said they will be sold as "low-mileage used cars and we will reimburse the dealer the difference."

As part of the marketing push for the guarantee, GM is asking consumers to take a survey at the Web site. Respondents are asked their opinions on such matters as which is the most fuel-efficient automaker, who builds the safest vehicles and who builds the best cars. As of Tuesday morning, Toyota was named the most fuel-efficient automaker, Volvo was picked as building the safest cars and BMW was said to build the best cars. GM was nowhere to be seen among the top performers.

Lutz spent some of the time discussing product. When asked if an SS version of the Chevrolet Cruze is in the pipeline, he responded: "You can bet we'll come up with some sort of high-performance derivative."

He also said, "We will in the future be increasing design and functional differences between GMC and Chevrolet." Lutz said GMC "is currently our most successful brand."

He also said that "Cadillac will be much more tuned, chassis-wise, to take on the German marques, while Buick will be aimed at Lexus.

"Both brands will have AWD offerings, so the question of rear versus front will be moot."

Inside Line says: We should know in pretty short order if those Ed Whitacre ads are any good or the advertising equivalent of the Edsel. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent