Bob Lutz: Live, Lively & Unscripted - Autoline After Hours 318

SPECIAL GUEST: Bob Lutz, the former General Motors Vice Chairman and current Chairman of VLF Automotive
UP FOR DISCUSSION:
- An inside look at VLF Automotive and its flagship product
- Brands and Products getting the axe
- What’s the latest with VW and Diesels?
All that and much more with John McElroy, Autoline.tv; Gary Vasilash, Automotive Design and Production; and Csaba Csere, Contributing Editor, Car and Driver.
Get more video everyday at autoline.tv

[@Uninfluenceable]

at 35:05 Bob, that is the most accurate statement I heard an (ex) auto-exec make. When your young, and make 25-40k a year, and 60% of your monthly income goes to rent, the last thing you want is another 25% to go towards payments on a $25k car. A 4-8 year old used car for 5-10K IS the best option.

[@harrylouie7955]

Instablaster.

[@MAKMAK-cb1lk]

VLF has been created from the remains of a beautiful body.....now with a GM engine....fully customizable and a tribute to what can be done with good product know how! I wish the company much success....wish there were more Lutz types in our industry.....

[@Mark-xh9ne]

Mr. Lutz is always an entertaining listen. He is one few auto executives that seems to see the whole picture.

[@crazylegend7609]

true

[@therealctoo4183]

@@crazylegend7609 LOL! He's a dinosaur who was trying to sell more dinosaurs. How'd that go?

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

He one of the many that kept up the GM Hustle. Should be indicted under RICO.

[@georgecostanza2695]

What Bob was referring to @37:45 is the J2000 of the early 70's.

[@2004vert]

Lutz is a living breathing legend. Great show.

[@jacobbarros8849]

Lutz, what a character. He should know the Continental is based off a stretched and lengthened fusion platform not Taurus which itself is a phased out Volvo platform. Even after all that who cares that its off what ever.

[@husky3425]

+Jacob Barros I noticed that too, it's like know your freakin facts before you talk.

[@jeffreysegal2065]

Forget waterboarding. Just have the prisoners listen to Lutz giving lengthy answers to simple questions. They'll surrender for sure! UGH!!!

[@TheWwong]

+J Segal I used to think Mr. Lutz should have flown his fighter jet into the sunset a LONG time ago, now I am CERTAIN.

[@nicksmith8166]

Love the Bob Lutz episodes. Definitely my favorite.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

A. You must be a boomer. B. You grew up in the best days ever. C. You had more or less whatever you wanted. D. Your children’s generation could bludge and party. E. Your children’s children cannot even think for themselves . . . and F. Your collective total has been a failure in human progress. Including Bob Lutz, and all he represents. Period

[@scottricci7154]

The Jeep_Comanche is what i believe you were thinking of. Awesome little truck.

[@MichaelDXavier]

With two years to answer you, I think they were discussing the Gladiator, the 'Wrangler'-based pickup that's been in dealers for 18 months at this point, and borrowed its model name from the Jeep J2000 of the 1960's. I think it's considered a 2020 model.

[@jimanderson9938]

Bob is the smartest and honest man in the auto industry.

[@robc8468]

A Bob said that's like being valedictorian at a reform school.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

You gotta be Shitting me . . . . .

[@SuperC55AMG]

I think Lutz was thinking of the Jeep Comanche when discussing the Jeep truck based on the Cherokee.

[@ARoss83]

So grateful my question made it

[@ARoss83]

Sorry was Iacocca instead of lutz on the question

[@pennfootball71]

i wonder what model watch Bob Lutz was wearing? Looked awesome.

[@AutolineDetroit]

+pennfootball71 We would guess this: www.edmunds.com/car-news/car-guy-bob-lutz-debuts-line-of-luxury-watches.html

[@husky3425]

Lutz who along with Rick Wagoner were responsible for downfall of GM. You know when Marry Barra refers to how much better and more trustworthy then "new GM" is compared to the old GM. Well the Old GM is Lutz.

[@robc8468]

Marry Barra LOL the electrical engineer at the Fiero plant we all know how "good" the Pontiac Fiero electronics and wiring turned out. By the time Barra is done working her "magic" at GM they will be bankrupt again and it won't take 100 years this time they will lucky to make it 10 years.

[@MrRea112]

GMs performance after bankruptcy is at best, mixed. They struggle to define their product lines cutting out models after a year of slower than expected sales - including at Cadillac and Buick, supposedly their premium brands. How come we don’t see this at Toyota, Hyundai and the prestige Germans?

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Mary Barra . . . . Go boil an egg . . . .

[@sthier24]

Great discussion, thanks

[@keimo2007]

great show!

[@adrianglessner5979]

What they (FCA) need to do is come out with a modern day version of the old SRT4. Seriously in 04 what could you get for $26k out the door with nearly 260 hp? Look at the Ford Focus sticker is outrageous, but you get a lot of busto for that heavy price tag.

[@electrictroy2010]

+Adrian Glessner YOU meant like the Mustang with 4 cylinder engine? .

[@michaelnelson3302]

While the Focus RS is pricey, it's not exactly a fair comparison to the SRT4. However, the FWD-only Focus ST is exactly what an SRT4 would be competing against currently. That SRT4 actually started at $21k with no options in 2004. That's $28k in 2017 dollars. That same $28k today will fetch you a very much loaded Focus ST that is superior in every way to the SRT4 and is MUCH better built than any FCA.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

GM REDISCOVERS THE WHAT THEY HAD IN THE 60s. I rest my case, Mr Lutz

[@leifjohnson617]

Tesla = the Lutz Killer

[@adrianhetmanski1832]

Bob is back!!! and burning massive amounts of gas, just like he likes it, they didn't call him Mr muscle car for nothing.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Fucking Boomer Petrol Head Dinosaurus! Die already.

[@jeffsheldon]

MAXIMUM BOB LUTZ

[@electrictroy2010]

IF YONG PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE MUCH MONEY then Toyota Scion should have aimed at cheap cars. Like Ford Fiesta which looks stylish buy only cost 12,000 in the base model. Or Mitsubishi Mirage at 11,000. Or Nissan Versa which is not stylish but is the lowest price at 10,500 . Instead Toyota gave us the IQ which should have been low cost given its extreme smallness, but instead they charge 18,000 for it. All the other cars were even more expensive. It was not affordable for the youth market Toyota Scion was trying to attract .

[@fuelon]

Bridgestone not Firestone.. but shhh ;)

[@GET2222]

What a sad conversation. The Bruce Springsteen song, “GLORY DAYS” comes to mind… I have no idea what he making any attempt to hold on to, but it’s sad. Lutz cobbling together some old failed fiskers to piece meal an ICE vehicle. Sad… This guy has made so many publicly stated bad calls and still no one calls him out. Trying to turn back the clock to tinker with paint for a musician… grandpa is not seeing that he’s not relevant. I wouldn’t be this hard on him but this guy was ruthless to the new EV startups. He had no clue what he was talking about. Nothing that came out of his mouth was want the customer wanted and now his making really dumb tinkering cars that are cobbled together from 5-7 different cars. Who cares. He doesn’t even sound like he cares either. Listen to him… sad…

[@TheWwong]

Old Fiskar bodies with GM drivetrains.....................hum

[@DocWolph]

+ICU2 More like VROOM!

[@jeffreysegal2065]

+ICU2 Yeah. Why couldn't Lutz just say that?

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Cruze? Come ON Bob, what planet are you living on? That car should have been recycled into 6” nails to seal your coffin, boy. The motor industry has to be the largest waste of human activity, wealth and purpose ever inflicted upon mankind, apart from war. Duplication of effort on a Grand Scale on what is little more than a snazzzy version of Fords model T. Humans still like baubles and glass beads. I would wager that more words and hot air have been expended on this parasitic industry than all words ever written on history. Big toy Boys fucking about with oversized dinky toys in a playground. Bitches used to complain about the cost of the Apollo Moonshot..... One billion dollars is about the cost of a new/old car to develop: ONE MODEL. Henry’s model T is no longer what that visionary gentleman intended. The entire business is a F R A U D.

[@seven203]

He's a joke just like his company.

[@chadsingleton7632]

Caio Caldas You better check his resume buddy. He definitely has made some missteps in his career like all of us but his successes out weight those.

[@dlwatib]

VLF is a joke, no matter what his resume says.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Yes.. Marine Corps the greatest factory in the world, producing nothing more than gun toting killer cunts, in upmarket uniforms, pitted against the grunts in US Army. Useless Cadillacs amongst useless Chevrolet’s, at great expense to the people.

[@asfinland]

So the Pope uses a Fiat 500L and the car price increases x4. The price of the first Acura NSX increases by 7 times the normal price. That means that if the pope would have driven the first Acura NSX, the car could have been sold for $4,8 Million!!!

[@djmanuelmares]

K

[@sergh8605]

Men. Bob Lutz has gone down. I remember looking at him and thinking he was a great looking men, now he looks a little tired

[@bigmedge]

+sergh8605 Being 84 years old will do that to a man

[@Guy_de_Loimbard]

+sergh8605 You can only hope to look half that good when you're 65, never mind 85.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Like America itself. The country that could is now the country that cannot. MAGA? Won’t happen.

[@GET2222]

Dead on arrival.