Legendary auto executive Bob Lutz will return to General Motors as a part-time consultant, according to the automaker. “Maximum Bob” retired in May 2010 at the age of 79, but has retained a high profile in the industry ever since.

“This formalizes a relationship that’s essentially continued since he left General Motors,” GM spokesman Jay Cooney told Automotive News. Lutz was apparently consulting with GM product boss Mary Barra since January of 2011, but will now be on board officially.

Lutz had a nine year tenure at GM and is generally credited with helping navigate the company through its difficult bankruptcy. Lutz also worked at Chrysler and BMW throughout his 47 year career.

[Source: Automotive News]

Bob Lutz briefly considered a flirtation with a Michigan gubernatorial run back in 2010, he told the Detroit Free Press. And then he found out how much it cost.

Maximum Bob would have run as a Republican, under the platform of revitalizing the state’s sagging economy. But once he realized how much money is thrown at such a campaign, he abandoned the idea: he, like GM and the entire state of Michigan, was strapped for cash. Coupled with the endless meetings with advisors and a campaign trail where he’d have to both deal with journalists and kiss babies—and possibly Michael Moore—and he presumably pronounced the entire idea as a “total crock of sh-t.”

Still, it would have been amusing to see Lutz negotiate the idea of GM’s bailout against the same Republicans who rallied against it.

[Source: Automotive News]

In his book, “Car guys versus Bean Counters,” the indomitable Bob Lutz talks about many things relating to General Motors. He talks about how the company is now on track, giving credit to former CEO Ed Whitacre and his replacement Dan Akerson.

He talks about how the company went from being obsessed with numbers and statistics, to building quality cars and trucks as its number one priority.

And he also talks about the passing of GM’s late, lamented brands, Hummer, Saturn and Pontiac. While Hummer is described as being the target of left-wing activists and politically viewed as the automotive anti-Christ, even though to quote Lutz himself “an H2 doesn’t burn any more fuel than a V12 Mercedes,” he says it was too bad that Saturn didn’t make it, because GM had given the division it’s best ever lineup, with offerings like the Aura sedan and Astra hatchback.

As for Pontiac, it’s this one that he laments the most. Not only did GM’s sporty division already boast a great lineup with cars like the G8 and the Solstice, but before the decision was taken to shutter the brand, Pontiac was also working on another sporty, rear drive offering, likely based off the Alpha platform.

Unfortunately, now we’ll never know what could have emerged from the Arrowhead division and that’s just too bad. As Lutz says, “Pontiac was virtually destroyed by the fact that we had a new head of Pontiac division about every eight months, and every head had a brand-new idea for its product direction.”

Perhaps a sign of what could have been, we’re reminded of an incredible looking Pontiac coupe design model (above) that we recently stumbled upon at GM’s North Hollywood Design Studio. How cool would that have been?

[Source: Ward's Auto World]

Outspoken curmudgeon and former GM badass-in-charge Bob Lutz has been popping up from retirement, serving as a consultant to General Motors and Lotus. And his former company’s bankruptcy restructuring left the company “in good hands,” he said.

Speaking at a conference, Lutz said that the outsiders who served as CEO and CFO during the two-year restructuring had “no history of running the auto industry in the U.S. the wrong way.” And, he continued, it included the elimination of the four brands from the mothership: Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab.

“It was the environmental anti-Christ,” Lutz admitted about Hummer. Saab was a drain on resources and only appealed to university professors, while Saturn was a sales disappointment. But—as he spoke like a true car guy—Pontiac was the one ”I personally regret went away,” said Lutz.

There’s only one solution, Lutz: screaming chickens on all future Loti.

Auto industry legend Bob Lutz may no longer be in the employ of the Big Three, but that hasn’t ever stopped “Maximum Bob” from giving his two cents on what the industry could do improve upon At the New York Auto Show, Lutz held court for a handful of journalists and expanded on what he felt were the key failures of the domestic manufacturers.

Lutz first fingered the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) regulations for helping to give import manufacturers an advantage. While American car makers had perfected the large, rear-drive V8 formula, CAFE forced them to switch to smaller engines and front drive platforms – precisely the kind of vehicles that the Japanese automakers had perfected. Lutz also blamed the typical villains, such as the press, the UAW and foreign exchange rates, but didn’t hesitate to chastise managers of the Big Three automakers, with Lutz deriding the ”… Harvard Business School-type, profit-optimization thinking as opposed to customer excellence focus,” as a key culprit.

[Source: Automotive News]

Much of the excitement surrounding the Lotus brand as of late has been about ultra-expensive future models, but Lotus also has a fair share of excellent performance machines on offer right now. Included in that list are two new additions, the Evora S and Evora IPS, which will make their North American debut at the 2011 NY Auto Show, introduced by none other than Bob Lutz.

Since departing General Motors, Lutz has been picked up by Lotus as a part of its team of global advisors to help create the right products to achieve success.

As for the vehicles themselves, the Evora IPS (Intelligent Precision Shift) is essentially an automatic transmission version of the standard model, which sounds rather unexciting, except for the fact that it’s likely to double sales of the sports car. As for the Evora S, it gets a supercharged V6 for raising horsepower from 276 to 345-hp.

In addition Lotus will make an announcement regarding its IndyCar program.

Look for full details April 20th and find AutoGuide’s coverage of the 2011 New York Auto Show here.

GALLERY: Lotus Evora S

Robert “Bob” Lutz is quite a personality. He flies fighter jets, rides super-bikes and even at age 79, he is one of the most wanted guys in the automotive industry.

He has worked for all the main American car firms, and was recently also linked as an advisor to Lotus. But perhaps what he is most well-known for is putting General Motors on the right track.

While he might officially be retired, GM still wants his advice and according to reports, would like him to come in as a paid consultant.

Lutz said in a recent interview that he has “the utmost respect for the GM management. If they want me back as a consultant, I’d be very happy to consider it.”

Lutz has been credited with the development of the Chevrolet Volt, and pushing ideas such as the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky into production. From the looks of things, the Lutz era with GM is far from over.

[Source: The Detroit News]

You’d expect that with Bob Lutz signing on with Lotus as a consultant that he’d be endlessly spouting-off about the brand’s endless possibilities and bright future. Not so.

Instead, the always candid former head of General Motors is giving the British sports car maker’s plan for the future a 60 percent chance at success. That might sound skittish at first, but taking into account the ambitious plan to build five new models in the next five years and sell between 6,000 and 7,000 cars while competing directly with Ferrari and Porsche, Lutz might still be being optimistic.

Still, Lutz approves of the Lotus plan so far, commenting in an interview with AutoCar that the new plan has a better chance of survival than if they chose to stick to the same philosophy of ultra-niche market cars. And while a lot of cash is certainly being invested into the Lotus plan, it’s not being spent frivolously. “The engineering I’ve seen so far is very good, and they’re definitely going about it the right way,” he said. “The money they’re spending on each model is only a fraction of what we’d have spent at GM on similar projects.”

[Source: AutoCar]

As part of a major expansion plan that will see the Lotus brand leave behind its niche-market history and expand into a more mainstream automaker, Lotus is poised to sign-on two long-time industry execs: Bub Lutz and Tom Purves. Lutz needs no introduction, having worked in the auto industry most of his life, holding senior positions at Chrysler, BMW and Ford, not to mention most recently at General Motors. As for Purves, he is a recently retired BMW executive.

According to sources, Lutz has been in talks but no formal arrangement has been while, while Purves said he “would be happy” to get involved.

The move is just the latest for Lotus, which only recently hired on former Ferrari marketing boss Dany Bahar as CEO, while poaching a designer from Ferrari as well. Bahar has also brought on execs from both Porsche and Aston Martin.

In an email to Automotive News, Lotus commented that, “Our aim is to raise the Lotus brand equity back to its rightful place as it existed in the 1970s when it competed with the likes of Ferrari, Porsche or Aston Martin. Maintaining the unique Lotus DNA is crucial, but with more relevance, greater efficiency and even more sustainability than we have had in the past.”

Lotus has admitted, however, that it will look to focus more on producing technologically advanced, luxurious and upmarket sports cars at higher volumes, increasing worldwide sales from 2,500 cars to roughly 8,000 by 2015.

The first big glimpse at the future of Lotus will come at the Paris Auto Show this Fall when the British sports car maker is set to reveal an all new model, thought to be a modern version of the Esprit.

[Source: Automotive News]

Cadillac’s beautiful plug-in hybrid concept car will remain a great idea, but nothing more. According to a report by Automotive News, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz wrote in a text message that the Converj, first shown at the Detroit Auto Show in 2009 and well-received by the media, won’t be headed for production.

Lutz wrote that, “priorities and the conviction that the Volt and Ampera will use all available capacity for years to come,” mean that the Converj project has been canceled. This comes as somewhat of a surprise, as it was thought that a higher output version of the Volt’s motor, fitted into a Cadillac, would not only be appealing to consumers, but would also make for a profitable business case. The higher profit margins and higher dollar value of a Cadillac would help cover the cost of the expensive high-technology powertrain.

Instead, Chevy and Opel will mark forward with the Volt and Ampera, while the Cadillac brand seems poised to tackle the lower end of the market, with plenty of resources being poured into the brand’s upcoming rear-drive BMW 3 Series competitor.

[Source: Automotive News via Autoblog]