When Bob Lutz started blogging, I was skeptical. Would this be just another PR mouthpiece site? Would he say anything new? Would GM listen to the readers?
Over the months I've followed GM Fastlane closely because of both the particulars of GM's difficulties and my more general interest in watching how a senior executive would take up the blogging platform. And I've become more and more impressed by Bob Lutz's performance on all fronts.
Today, Bob squarely takes on GM's troubles from a point of view he knows plenty about: product development. People ask, he says:
"What is GM's strategy for fixing its issues?"
A good and fair question. Let's start by saying there's no magic bullet for our issues, at least none that we've uncovered. The truth is we've spelled out in several forums and in several media interviews what we intend to do to address the challenges we face. What we won't tell you is exactly how we intend to do those things.
I can tell you this: First and foremost, our recovery is riding squarely on the back of our new product programs. There has never been a turnaround in this industry that didn't happen because of hot-selling cars and trucks. There never will be, either.
He then goes on to describe some of those new products and why he believes they'll be successful. But not before saying this:
This is intended to be a blog about cars and trucks, by the way, and some of the peripheral issues surrounding the buying and selling of same. We will not turn this into a debate about health care costs or public policy or anything related. Our cars and trucks are our lifeblood; we have a lot of great ones coming, and as they arrive, we'll talk about them here.
Good for him. No whining about the legacy of old contracts, currency rates, unfair governmental practices or any of the rest. "I'm here to talk about our cars," he's saying, "and I think they're pretty good."
Agree or not, this guy gets communicating with people...down to earth, straight up, and, yes, blog-right.
Gotta like Bob.
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