One of the pleasures of Detroit, where I am for the annual auto show, is that, despite the intense upheaval and distress in the industry over the past year, some things remain resolutely the same.
It is snowing outside the Cobo Centre, where the North American International Auto Show (its unwieldy title) is held, the people are still friendly, the best place to get a coffee remains the Mercedes-Benz stand (where I am writing this) and Bob Lutz of GM is as outspoken as ever.
As 78-year-old Mr Lutz, the Detroit veteran whose role at GM appears to have been somewhat curtailed in the new dispensation of Ed Whitacre, told the Society of Automotive Analysts on Sunday night, when asked about his future:
“I have never actually been dismissed so that would be a new experience . . . If the GM board will tolerate my occasional outrageousness I plan to be around for some time.”
But Mr Lutz, who has been in charge of GM’s revitalisation of its product design, is not exactly sticking to the accepted script about Detroit’s conversion to making fuel-efficient cars, rather than heavy trucks and sports utility vehicles.
He duly enthused at the SAA conference about “teensy weesy cars and electrics” such as GM’s Chevrolet Cruz and Aveo cars, which are being built on a global platform. However, he reiterated his long-held scepticism about US consumer tasts converging with those in Asia and Europe.
“We are not like Europe, do not have mass transit system, do not have situation where major cities are only an hour away from each other . . . Americans are not going to become a nation of people driving around in tiny passenger cars.”
One other Detroit veteran, however, looked a lot more comfortable at the notion of Detroit changing its ways, however: Bill Ford, the executive chairman of Ford.
Mr Ford seemed very happy this morning at the unveiling of the Ford Focus, the company’s new global C-class passenger car.
As Mr Ford, an fuel efficient enthusiast who struggled to portray his family company as environmentally correct during the SUV boom, said: “I am pleased to report that I am not preaching to the choir.”
He was tickled at the idea that an electric version of the Ford Fusion would be built at a Michigan plant that used to produce SUVs. Fuel efficient cars and Michigan – his two priorities in one.
