Bob Lutz (businessman) - Career

Career

After leaving the Marines Lutz spent eight years with GM in Europe before joining BMW serving as Executive Vice President of sales at BMW for three years, and he takes some credit in the development of the BMW 3-Series.

Lutz was also an Executive Vice President at Ford Motor Company, where he led the creation of the Ford Sierra, initiated development of the original Ford Explorer, and was a Member of Ford's Board of Directors. He was a frequent internal political rival of eventual Ford CEO Red Poling.

Lutz became of Chrysler Corporation's Global Product Development, including the very successful Dodge Viper and LH series cars. Former Chrysler Chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca, who helped steer the company back to profitability after needing a bailout from the U.S. Government in 1979 just to survive, says he should have picked Lutz as his successor rather than Bob Eaton upon Iacocca's retirement at the end of 1992, but at the time Iacocca and Lutz were not getting along. Eaton was responsible for the merger between Chrysler and Daimler-Benz in 1998 which Daimler ended up backing out of in 2007 when it sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management. Referring to the job performance of Eaton, Iacocca claimed that Lutz "would eat him for lunch".

While at General Motors, Lutz championed the import of the Holden Monaro to the United States as the Pontiac GTO. Other cars such as the Cadillac Sixteen Concept; Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice; Pontiac G8; Chevrolet Malibu; Cadillac CTS; Buick Enclave; Cadillac Converj Concept; Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept; Chevrolet Camaro; Chevy Beat, Groove and Trax Concept Studies; and 2010 Buick Lacrosse, Chevrolet Equinox, and Cadillac SRX are said to be Lutz initiatives. Lutz has also emphasized a need to produce fuel efficient vehicles, backing the 2010 Chevrolet Volt which is estimated to gain up to 100 mpg.

Lutz maintained the "Fastlane" blog hosted at GM Blogs.

In 2008, Lutz said that "the electrification of the automobile is inevitable".

On February 9, 2009, GM announced that Lutz would step down on April 1, 2009, from his position as Vice Chairman of Global Product Development, to take an advisory role. He was to retire from GM at the end of 2009. Lutz said that one reason for his decision was the increasing regulatory climate in Washington that would force GM to produce what Federal regulators wanted, rather than what customers wanted. Lutz has expressed skepticism on the issue of global warming.

During a July 10, 2009, press conference, GM stated that Lutz would remain at GM as Vice Chairman responsible for all creative elements of products and customer relationships, and that his role as Vice Chairman of Global Product Development would be assumed April 1, 2009, by Thomas G. Stephens, then Executive Vice President of Global Powertrain and Global Quality. Lutz, Stephens, and design chief Ed Welburn would work together to guide all creative aspects of design. Lutz would also lead the effort to better guide GM's brands, and the automaker's marketing, advertising, and communications teams would report to Lutz in an effort to develop a more consistent message and results. Lutz would report directly to Fritz Henderson, and be part of the newly formed Executive Committee. Lutz retired from General Motors May 2, 2010.

Lutz is currently head of the consulting firm Lutz Communications, which maintains a website at boblutzsez.com. He is also Chairman of The New Common School Foundation, a member of the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Marine Corps University Foundation, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas. He joined the Transonic Combustion, Inc. Board of Directors on May 24, 2010.

Lutz just joined NanoSteel Company, a nano-structured steel materials designer, who has announced that Bob Lutz, has joined its board of directors. The 10-year-old, Providence, RI-based company says that it "has achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of nano-structured sheet steel with exceptional strength and ductility" for the automotive industry. In other words, it could one day make lightweight material to improve vehicle efficiency while still offering many of steel's traditional benefits. In August, General Motors announced that GM Ventures was investing in NanoSteel.