Bob Lutz Keynote Speech at 2009 LA Auto Show

[jsnowbordr47]

Well, it's good to hear that GM is truly committed to the "green shift". And Lutz is right, if gas continues to remain relatively cheap (remember other countries gas is much more expensive than even our most expensive gas) no one is going to see the point of investing these green cars because the high price of entry won't be offset at the pump if gas is cheap. And frankly most Americans are going to buy green cars because they save money at the pump, not because they're saving the environment.

[DanFrederiksen]

GM is about as committed to green as satan is to God. they're dragging their feet on teh overengineered overpriced Volt and that's one model in low volume out of how many...

if they were committed they would make an ultralight weight ultraaerodynamic plugin hybrid where you can use the full battery capacity and with a tiny ICE generator because the car is so lean. and that would be 80% of their models. they are not committed to green at all

[bigretardhalo]

I have a major issue with his last answer. Now that GM has invested millions into the electric car market because Telsa showed it was marketable the government needs to tax gas so GM can make a profit? Where the heck is my freedom of choice in that economy? Build a better product and people will buy it! Make a battery car that saves me the anount in gas the technology costs don't tax the gas to make the technology cheap. If taxes happen the advancements of the last ten years will come to a hault

[jsnowbordr47]

He wasn't referring to profits, he was talking about the whole shift to renewable energy/green tech. If the government really has an interest in promoting the shift, it needs to give (or in this case force) an incentive to get consumers to buy these green technologies (because they are very expensive in their first generation). You look at Europe, diesel fuel is very popular their for economy cars because gasoline is expensive and not as efficient, and their governments don't subsidize as much.

[bigretardhalo]

There were no gov't price breaks when Toyota and Honda unvieled the first gen Hybrids and they did not go bankrupt. They learned from real world demands their current hybrids are much better and cheaper now. Also all the technologies that are used in the Volt are used in existing hybrids. GM also has the worst hybrids on the market as far as cost to MPG gains go. So yes he is asking for the Gov't to tax gas to help GM make a profit because they are lagging in the technology dept.

[jsnowbordr47]

But Toyota's Hybrids never really even took off until gasoline hit a Lincoln a gallon (and Honda's never took off, even the Insight is more or less enjoying abysmal sales). And since then, sales have been steady, but nowhere near conventional auto sales. Americans buy green to save money, not to save the environment. GM and anyone else can build the greenest car in the world, but if people don't need it to save money at the pump, they won't buy it. There will be no green shift with cheap gas.

[TheAutoChannel]

There is a lot to question in Lutz' speech, especially when he announced that the first Volt's are going to utilities, not consumers. Then, after that, there will only be 8,000 - 10,000 Volts for consumers. We need mass quantities of electric cars, like yesterday. GM may be too little and too late to save the company.