From WIFR, on the occasion of the reopening of Chrysler’s Belvidere (Illinois) factory. Belvidere is the birthplace of the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass—all winners of TTAC’s Ten Worst award.
“The whole economy’s gonna pick up, once everybody’s back to work and starts making money they’ll be spending money and they’re talking about some overtime and stuff like that so they’re talking about good things ahead. So everybody’s optomistic [sic] and looking forward to the future,” says Belvidere Chrysler worker Ray Battistini.
Remember the “legendary” story about a freshly-minted GM Car Czar peeking under a tarp (the non-financial sort) and saying, “This isn’t the new Corvette!” The Kool-Aid drinkers were awestruck; Bob Lutz was serving notice that GM design wasn’t good enough! In fact, as we pointed out, it wasn’t the new Corvette; Maximum Bob was simply showing his colleagues that he knew the difference between a Corvette and a non-Corvette. Well, here we go again, only this time MB is GM’s Marketing Czar and it’s a reviled Buick ad. Set-up: MB in the FastLane: “That Buick commercial tested very well, which is not the same as saying that it’s an effective ad. I think you will very quickly see a drastic change in the tone and content of our advertising. And if you don’t, it will mean that i have failed.” AdAge: “GM’s new marketing top gun, Bob Lutz, met with the automaker’s brand teams on July 14, spent 10 to 20 minutes critiquing the work for each brand and, in the words of someone in the know, ‘crapped all over the advertising.’ Then he jetted off to the Caribbean island of Montserrat on holiday, leaving some scared individuals in his wake.” Taxpayers/shareholders included.
When asked at an early meeting to discuss G.M.’s culture, he gave what some members of the task force described as a long, meandering answer, concluding: “I’ve been here 25 years. This is the only culture I know.” However, Mr. Henderson quickly added that he was determined to change it.
“Marchionne said he had installed a strong management team at Chrysler, the integration process was under way, and Fiat had already turned over a small-car platform to the Auburn Hills automaker.” That’s one small step for a platform, one giant leap for mankind.
Ok, today’s QOTD was actually typed yesterday, as Alpha jet-deprived New GM Car Czar Bob Lutz faced the slings and arrows of outrageous internetocracy on Fastlane. Stan:
In my group it is just uncool to drive a GM car -even if they are as good as the imports. Is your marketing studies researching why this is. I could give you an ear full and fit the urban professional demographic. I want to see GM get that desirable one day!
Lutz’s reply (and our quote of the day) after the jump.
It’s bad enough that New GM thinks their shit doesn’t stink [paraphrasing], but now that GM has become New GM, the mainstream media has resumed its cheerleading. The Detroit News‘ month of living realistically has ended. Tom Walsh: “President Barack Obama has every reason to boast and preen about the Detroit auto industry bailout when he comes to town Tuesday.” Talk about premature recapitulation . . .
“I’m sure in the fullness of time we’ll all look back and think of things that might have been done differently, or perhaps should have been done differently.”
Presidential Task Force On The Automobiles Steve Rattner in an Automotive News [sub] piece on potential conflicts of interest created by the auto industry bailout.
“This is really just the beginning of all the final tuning. We are at the 50 percent point. Fundamentally, we’ve got everything directionally correct, but now we’ve got all the tuning yet to do.” Andrew Farah, Chief Engineer, Chevrolet Volt. [thanks to Justin Berkowitz for the link]
I know I’m bit of a dog with a bone on this one. But the President Himself has assured bailout-weary taxpayers, both satirically and earnestly, that he doesn’t want to be GM’s CEO. His Presidential Task Force on Automobiles (PTFOA) has repeated the “hands-off GM” meme ad nauseam—even as they tighten their stranglehold on the bankrupt automaker, fail to fend off Congressional interference and prepare for the company’s nationalization. So when ex-CarConnection TTAC nemesis Paul A. Eisenstein asked GM’s CEO how long it will take the PTFOA to shit-can his ass after New GM’s formation [paraphrasing], I expected Fritz to keep his answer suitably vague. But OH NO. Fritz is so concerned about not appearing to be what he is—a bureaucracy-born GM slacker—that he had to get readers to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. “I have to prove myself. I’m on a short leash, but I’m not worried.” Oxymoron. Which is EXACTLY the problem with GM’s management and the government’s control thereof. [thanks to TMcA for the link]
The truth is, as I’ve said all along, I have no ambition to run an auto company. I’m not the salesman-in-chief. And GM will rise or fall on the quality of its products — like the taut, athletic design of the new Buick Enclave. Its French-seamed leather and warm wood tones make the Enclave more than transportation. It’s a modern driver’s retreat.
—President Barack Obama at the Television and Radio Correspondents Dinner shortly after unveiling his Oprah-inspired “car company giveaway.”
“Many commentators interpret this as a battle of egos, but that is a simplification of a much deeper human need to be attached to something meaningful that will persist long after you are gone from this Earth.”
—Ex-Tesla spinmeister and TTAC protagonist Darryl Siry on the cat fight between Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk
“The Buick LeSabre is made in Ontario, Canada . . . the UAW worker in Canada makes the same wage as the UAW worker in the U.S.”
—Vice President Joe Biden in the Detroit News
Dr. Lyle J. Dennis of GM-volt.com fame has a pronouncement for his flock: “I have seen the electric car promised land.” Dr. D is referring to his visit to “the pre-production operations (PPO) facility at a time where the first genuine Chevy Volts, called integration vehicles (IVers) were being assembled.” (There’s a joke in there somewhere about an IV drip, but it’s not for me to make it.) Unfortunately, Fritz Henderson’s sworn promise of transparency doesn’t apply to photographs of Volt mule assembly, ’cause God knows what Toyota what might do with the information revealed by snapshots of the process. But Dennis is nothing if not sycophantic—I mean resourceful. He offers the EV faithful this shot of “the actual garage door the first Volts will drive off into the world through.” Ending a sentence with a preposition is not something up with which TTAC would put, but we appreciate Dennis’, uh, zeal. “And so without any doubt [yea verily] the Volt has truly been born and its arrival into public production for launch in November 2010 appears at this point an absolute certainty.” Appears to be an absolute certainty, indeed.
“They’re on you day and night. Their oversight is just too extreme. That’s why our 10-year loan, we paid it back in three years. We couldn’t stand the government. The bureaucracy kills you.”
From Bloomberg’s irony-free (Saturn Aura, geddit?) article entitled “Car Buyers Spurn GM, Ford as Japan Brands Retain Aura”:
“It is very hard to open minds and get people to consider a domestic vehicle again, no matter how good,” GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said. “The product and fuel economy deficit, reliability deficit, styling deficit — all those deficits have been erased. What has yet to be erased and is going to be the biggest challenge of all is erasing the reputational deficit.”
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