NEW YORK/DETROIT — General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has resurfaced on the corporate GM FastLane blog, this time taking aim at talk show host David Letterman, who recently criticized the electric Chevrolet Volt.
In a posting entitled "Stupid Human Trick," Lutz gripes that Letterman "made some gratuitously derogatory remarks about the Volt's range, calling it 'insane' and 'ridiculous,' and in general appeared woefully uninformed about the Volt."
Letterman's April 29 show featured Tesla Motors boss Elon Musk, who showed off the electric Model S sedan. On the program, Letterman said of the Volt's 40-mile electric-only range: "That'll get you down the driveway and back." He added: "That's crap!"
He also described the development of hydrogen-powered fuel-cell cars as "That's a lot of crap, too."
In the blog posting, Lutz invited Letterman to drive the Chevrolet Volt.
"Now, if he is that uninformed, I must point out that it's not his fault, it's ours," Lutz wrote. "We should do a better job of making sure that Dave and everyone else who is in position to comment on national TV about our products has the right information, whether they use that information or not.
"Perhaps if we'd hired Drew Barrymore to be the spokesperson for the vehicle we'd have commanded more of his attention."
Lutz added that GM can't "sit idly by while misinformation spreads, especially when it's disseminated by a respected 'car guy.' That really got us, if you will, charged up."
Lutz is set to retire from GM at the end of 2009.
Inside Line says: Lutz appears to be jockeying to get the Volt on Letterman, but only if Drew Barrymore is a guest, too. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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