I agree with GM Car Czar on a number of points. First, we both believe that CAFE regs are like forcing middle-aged American men to wear plaid pants and high-heeled shoes. (Or something like that.) I'm also down with Maximum Bob on global warming. Well, sort of. While I don't consider the idea "a crock of shit," I favor a wait-and-see approach. Keep adding millions of vehicles to the planet's surface. If the Earth is significantly warmer in a hundred thousand years or so, point taken. What's that you say? By then it will be too late? Yes, and by then I'll be dead. There's another point of intersection between myself and Maximum Bob: we're both selfish bastards. Mr. Lutz' exhortation to struggling GM dealers to "suck it up" clearly reveals he couldn't care less about the fate of the cry-babies attempting to sell his employer's products and thereby put money in his pocket. Why should he? Maximum Bob's already got lots of GM money in the bank and lots more on the way. Not to coin a phrase, fuck 'em if they can't sell my cars. By the same token, I couldn't care less about my writers' opinions. Oh wait, I do. I guess there's a difference between being outspoken and being the hole though which excrement flows into a ceramic receptacle.
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I guess there’s a difference between being outspoken and being the hole though which excrement flows into a ceramic receptacle.
Best line in the whole piece.
That’s whats wrong with Corp America, Only thinking of how to fatten up their wallets instead of making their products better, that is why Japanesse and China is slowly taking over our on products because of the tech sellout, and it’s ALL OF THE COMPANIES DO IT! where is the Meaning of made in America..next thing you’l find is “Manufactured in Russia” labels because they will of exploited the rest of the world doing it..For example Mexican auto worker maybe makes min wage to put a car together V/S a guy in Detroit making 20.00 hr to make that car, I’m sorry but you do have to live in this world at 20hr..or you pretty much poverity…what you put into you’ll get out of…not everyone should have to make 15 or less per hour to live with..
Excellent observation about Maximum Bob – his motivation to do a good job is….? – I’m sure his retirement plan is well provided for.
I don’t think Bob’s in it for the money — he was all set for quite the comfortable retirement before GM came a-calling. He’s an ego guy. His goal is that 10 years from now, we think of him as the guy who saved GM and the American auto industry.
Weird thing is, he just might be right.
Two years ago just before I left nissan there was rumblings of 10 year(!!) financing. And that’s up here in Canada..
Far more people than would admit it were signed up for 96 month (8year) financing.
Those crazy power sucking windshield wipers.
Those who dispute global warming, without themselves being scientists and invested in the tremendous amount of research being carried out on the topic, might want to coast a little when declaring it a fraud.
Or else just check the weather.
Whether it is caused by humans or not, it’s happening. Can we do something about it? Who knows – fortunately, the sun is cooling down just as the planet is heating up. That source of heat has turned down the thermostat a couple of ticks since the early 90s.
As a senior officer of GM, Mr Lutz’ opinion on GW should be in line with his company’s — the fact that it isn’t clearly demonstrates why GM has absolutely no credibility whatsoever as an environmentally concerned or friendly automaker. And since car buyers to a greater and greater extent are concerned about the environment, that is not so good for GM.
Whether Lutz feels it’s the macho thing to do – to deny GW – again, who knows? I mean, why get all touchy feely about it, it’s just a lot of noise, standing in the way of the amazing cars Lutz was going to build. What’s tens of thousands of scientists and millions of potential customers compared to his global ambition?
Mr. Lutz goes on to demonstrate his ignorance of science in the next sentence of his global warming “statement.”
“I’m motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2 (argument).”
This with reference to the Volt. Throughout his career, Mr Lutz has been one of the major forces leading the US to its total dependence upon foreign petroleum. The cars he has “built” and the absolute disregard of fuel economy he has championed are a major contributor to this sad state of affairs. To recap: the US has 4% of the world’s known oil reserves, and consumes 25% of worldwide production.
Whether you are driving a Volt or a Trailblazer doesn’t matter much — as the energy to run both has to come from somewhere. The same amount of what physicists call work is required to move car and occupants from A-B, unless the Volt is aerodynamically more efficient and a lot lighter. Given the look and spec’s, don’t hold your breath for that one.
So – where’s the energy going to come from? Is Lutz embarked on an alternative energy project of some kind? The best contribution he can make, if his concern really is to reduce dependency on imported oil, is to reduce the size of his cars, across the board and to make them a lot more energy efficient.
Having Lutz in charge of GM’s global product planning at this point in time probably makes as much sense as having Jack the Ripper spearheading nighttime pedestrian safety in Victorian London.
Well, mark it on the calendar, because I actually agree with ol’ Bob on something for once, global warming IS a crock of sh!t. Of course, he should have probably specified that manmade global warming is what is the crock.
@armadamaster
Out of curiosity – what’s the basis for your skepticism concerning a human contribution to the marked rise in average global temperatures at the same time that the sun’s output is entering a long cycle decrease?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/sep/24/spaceexploration.theobserver
Suspect anything printed in the guardian newspaper.
I have to agree with Bob Lutz almost whole-heartedly. Sunspot activity and its variances have ALOT to do with the warming and cooling of the Earth’s surface, NOT CO2 emissions from humans. John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel and a highly respected meterologist explains it very well…
http://www.kusi.com/home/11131801.html
next up is a news story about how we make the sun hotter too. It’s all about agendas, little about real science, and making people feel good. Question the religion of the environmentalist and your going to find yourself on the receiving end of a firm smack.
Just remember the theme of the first Earth Day was the coming Ice Age and how 12 billion people would starve to death on Earth by the year 2000.
Out of curiosity – what’s the basis for your skepticism concerning a human contribution to the marked rise in average global temperatures at the same time that the sun’s output is entering a long cycle decrease?
There’s inertia in climate dynamics. Just as the hottest part of the day is not coincident with the moment of maximum solar exposure, nor is the coolest part of the night coincident with moment the sun is facing the opposite side of the earth, global warming or cooling as influenced by variable solar irradiance lingers after the point of solar change.
We don’t know exactly how long. Some researchers who noticed the cessation of swelling solar irradiance are projecting cooling commencing in 15 – 20 years and lasting perhaps into or beyond the 22nd century.
Phil
“@armadamaster
Out of curiosity – what’s the basis for your skepticism concerning a human contribution to the marked rise in average global temperatures at the same time that the sun’s output is entering a long cycle decrease?”
The fact that mankind in general are fleas on the back of this big blue hound we call Earth.
Unless you wanna argue that setting off every nuke on the planet simultaneously would cause some manmade global warming, I’ll secede that one.
Of course, if you are looking for a more scientific answer, all I can say is for every ten pro-manmade global warming scientists you can put up, I can put up another ten that say otherwise, which all in all equates to a gigantic “We don’t know”.
Summarizing, the big “We don’t know” is grossly insufficent IMHO to burden a populus with major financial, industrial, and lifestyle changes that the environazis demand in the interim.