Motown pundit Peter DeLorenzo frequently takes his hometown heroes to task for their insularity. It's more than a bit ironic; the self-styled Autoextremist steadfastly refuses to allow comments underneath his weekly rants. The columnist also backed out of simultaneous TTAC publication because he didn't want to respond to TTAC's Best and Brightest when they ripped his writing to shreds thoughtfully analyzed his insightful commentary. In e-pistle 454, DeLorenzo once again tries to play it both ways. On one hand, he validates the "perception gag" [sic]. You know; the deep psychological chasm between U.S. consumers' understanding of GM and Ford's products (ominously enough, Chrysler's been excluded) and the vehicles' "true" competitiveness with their transplanted rivals. Well, some of them. OK, the Chevy Mailbu. On the other hand, Sweet Pete eviscerates The Big 2.8 for their "indecision, non-decisions and monumentally bone-headed decisions." In sum, uber-mensch Bob Lutz and his pals tried hard to do/build the right thing. They got tripped-up by gas prices (in just three months!) and hamstrung by their handlers' stupidity. And who do you think you are criticizing Detroit, Jane you ignorant slut? Despite DeLorenzo's writing talent, it's clear the inside outsider is rhetorically conflicted. But at least DeLorenzo has doubts. Even now, deep into the last act of a Shakespearian tragedy, the same can not be said for the people who once paid his salary.
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Peter is really enamoured with Bob Lutz because he’s a throwback to the kind of rockstar auto exec of his (Peter’s) youth.
The problem with Bob Lutz is twofold:
* That kind of attitude is not what GM needs. They need a Carlos Ghosn for three years, followed by a Kat Watanabe for ten or twenty. They do not need Rick Wagoner or Fritz Henderson.
* Even if it was what GM needs (and it’s not, not now), Lutz has to deal, well, the rest of GM.
Lutz is a feel-good executive for people like Peter and many fans of the old Detroit. He says the right things and represents the good times, but he doesn’t do anything today.
About that Genesis at the end of the podcast…
An Avalon also is the size of a 7-series with more power than the 5-series for under the price of a 3-series. Hyundai must undercut Toyota’s pricing, not BMW’s. Anyone can undercut BMW’s pricing. Pbbt.
About that Avalon…. FWD. No comparison to BMW please or Genesis for that matter.
I was about to write and point out an apparent typo – “perception gag” when I realized, no… Farago’s right.
The “perception gap” really IS a “perception gag” in a couple meanings of the term (per my 1967 version of Webster’s New Collegiate). First, “gag” is a “check to free speech.” Exactly. Detroit Fanboys often pull this out to shut down what they think is unfair and unwarranted bashing of their Detroit Faves. Sorry… reality is never unfair or unwarranted and The Grim Reality is that Detroit has turned people off and it takes years to undo the damage. Business 101.
Second, “gag” as in, “a laugh-provoking remark or act.” Also correct… it’s nothing but a laugh-provoking remark to say that there’s a perception gap. Let’s presume for a moment that there IS such a thing. So what? Is the consumer responsible for retraining himself? I don’t think so. It’s Detroit’s responsbility to get the message through. In 2003, Bob Lutz attempted to do just that, telling the press that GM quality was as good as any out there. The press dutifully wrote it down and reported it and now, in 2008, we are free to once again read his comments and appreciat the gag, as in “a laugh-provoking remark…” Or maybe we’ll gag, as in “heave, retch.”
I agree on the “perception gap” matter. While I have mostly owned D3 trucks and have had no complaints with them, therefore not being one of those “burned” by the D3, I can certainly understand why those who have been taken for a ride, whether through reliability or dealer issues, would be hesitant to return.
But that’s been established ad nauseum. I think the concept of the “perception gap” exists because those who propogate it want to accelerate the usual timeframe (whatever that may be) for competitive or superior products to be accepted in the marketplace. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, you can’t hit the fast-forward button on this count.
…got tripped-up (in just three months)
That’s complete bulls**t. Try three YEARS. The US dollar started sinking a few years before that but Katrina was the coup de gras for Detroit, they just don’t know that they’re dead yet… poor suckers.
IF they had turned on that Katrina-shaped dime and shifted to compact cars, maybe, just MAYBE they’d have had a chance. But no, they kept on peddling Trucks and SUVs like the Bad Lieutenant betting on baseball.
–chuck
And now I’ve read Lorenzo’s Rant and several things occur to me:
1. Rant #454…
Hah! Rant #454! Wasn’t a 454 a monster GM engine back in the day?
2. Yadda yadda… “vastly improved…” yadda yadda… “And for the most part, they were right.”
By what objective measure? In 2003, Lutz claimed this and it was entirely BS. The other day, on another forum, someone was babbling on about his reliable GM vehicle and how, in 129K miles of driving, that he’d only had to replace the thus-and-so and the this-or-that.
“What?” I asked mysef, “Don’t those things last the life of the car? 500K miles?”
Detroit should entirely shut the hell up about reliability. One of the most reliable cars available for sale in the US (Per JDP, TrueDelta, CR, just about anything you can think of) is the Prius. Lutz and his engineering and production managers should lie awake nights thinking about the implications of that. It is a gas vehicle with unusual valve trickery to achieve an Atkinson cycle, a modern CVT, a Power Split Device AND it’s an electric car (motor, controller, batteries) AND an electric generator.
When you get done imagining all the extra parts and computer power and software that goes into the Prius and realize that it’s the reliability equal of anything on the road or better… it just blows me away.
3. They’ll be making a lot of PR noise over the next eighteen months, but the reality is that you won’t see alternative propulsion vehicles on the road from a domestic manufacturer in any quantities until 2011.
And that’s one of their problems… they’re doing the Volt one press release at a time, rather than by achieving engineering milestones one after the other.
4. For people far removed from the auto biz, especially in places populated by porkmeister lawmakers (Washington, D.C.), radical, one-dimensional environmentalists (California) and unbridled greed merchants (Wall Street),…
He’s lining up everybody’s favorite whipping boys…
…there was never any “perception gap” shrinkage to begin with. They never noticed that Detroit had made a huge leap in capability and credibility, and now that it’s all over the media that Detroit has been caught flat-footed yet again you can almost hear entire segments of the consumer buying public jettisoning Detroit from their thinking – permanently.
What leap in capability was that? Hybrids have been on the US market for 8 years. GM may offer one in 2011, in miniscule quantities and what we consider mass, mainstream production is out towards 2015. They don’t produce their current whybrids in any useful quantity… and people don’t want the big ones, anyway. They can’t get decent fuel economy out of the small cars they have… the list goes on.
And what leap in credibility was that? Every time Lutz opens his mouth, something nutso comes out. The recent nonsense about the Beat was a good example… A week or two ago, GM’s accelerating a decision about it and people are excited that we might see a real GM minicar. Fast-forward a few days and it turns out there’s nothing to decide… the Beat can’t be a US vehicle… the plans never allowed for Federalization. They talk incessantly about the Volt but the story changes readily enough. $25K. $48K. $40K. $40K if we get a $7K tax credit. The tech specs change, too. The number of units and availability changes. You must be a serious Fanboy to believe anything they say.
Then there’s the Denial of Reality Factor. We’ve got enough cash to get us into 2009. Whoop-de-do. Their “turnaround plan” consists of doing things that sensible manufacturers do all the time, anyway. Are they in the business of building cars or is it just a hobby for them?
According to Consumer reports in 2007, the average 10 year old GM car has develops 225% of the serious issues that a Toyota has. If anything, the perception gap is narrower than it should be.
Bwaah ha ha ha hah…
What is this video from really?
It has to be a skit from a show in the same vein as SNL or MADTV! Maybe from one of the cable networks, no? Or maybe it’s one of those Internet shows?
And that comb-over! What a great Halloween costume!
Hi chuck, good obsevations.
Actually I remember noticing that SUV sales were starting to slide the spring before Katrina.
A “fashion change” was in progress when gas was 2 bucks per.
Their excuse T-shirts are running out of room for more items (I think they are tripping on the hems as it is).
Take care,
Bunter
There’s a section of autoextremist called Roadkill (which it should have been – at birth). Somebody please explain to me what the heck that column has to do with motoring, or motorised conveyances of any kind and the next time I open a can of spam, I’ll make you a medal.
Robert —
Remind me never, never to piss you off.
That was as gorgeous a tear down — complete with video! — as I’ve ever seen.
Just to comment on what Mr. Farago said about Navigators, I spend a lot of time in them (with my surrounding family owning 4). They are superior to the Suburban (a vehicle I get, quite often, when my car makes it’s frequent tow truck rides to the dealer) in carrying a large group of adults (6 or more), especially when it comes to real third row seating. Plus, the power folding seats are very good.
Having spent quite a bit of time driving the latest Navigator L model (nice to have luggage space when you use all the seats!), I will say that I’m extremely depressed about the cheapening of the interior bits, especially the door panels. The previous model felt much nicer inside.
Styling is a subjective matter, and a lot of people say that got worse, too, but I’ll leave that up to intepretation. But there’s no mistaking the craptacular interior materials, which especially hurts when the previous model wasn’t nearly that bad.
blautens:
Having spent quite a bit of time driving the latest Navigator L model (nice to have luggage space when you use all the seats!), I will say that I’m extremely depressed about the cheapening of the interior bits, especially the door panels. The previous model felt much nicer inside.
That is disappointing, especially in light of Ford’s recent efforts to improve their interiors as of late, such as in the Flex.
Robert: Thanks for the classic Hamlet cigar ad. Made my day.