Bob Lutz Calls It Like He Sees It

Editor

As loyal blog readers know, Rob, Jen and I went to dinner with Bob Lutz last Wednesday. To be honest, I was a little nervous—the man is a titan. While we were waiting in the bar, Rob pretty much summed up my feelings when he said, "Seriously, who’s bigger? Enzo Ferrari is dead." But titan or not, Bob was easy to talk to. Obviously, he’s stoked about the Chevy Volt, and one of the first questions I asked him was about whether near-silent electric cars posed dangers to the blind. It was pretty clear he thought that idea was ridiculous. Bob said modern vehicles are so quiet that people generally know a car is coming because they hear "air and tire noise," and not because they hear the rumble of the engine. He added that once perfectly clean vehicles are common, the industry will probably start taking heat for all the dead bugs which wind up on their windshields. Yup, the rumors are true—Bob Lutz is a funny guy. However, he did seem resigned to the idea that we’d soon be seeing Federally-mandated vehicle sound minimums, because there is "one blind congressman."

But when I said I’d miss the burly report of a big internal internal combustion engine, he dismissed my concerns, saying that eventually, people will be able to choose exactly how they want their cars to sound, and that the car’s computers will be able to match the soundtrack to the performance, so it will feel natural. What followed was probably the most entertaining part of the evening, as half of the folks in attendance—grown-ups all—attempted to imitate the wail of a Ferrari F1 motor running down through the gears. Before he left, I asked him about his collection of fighter planes, and he gave me the card pictured below. And that’s just completely awesome. It’s the coolest card I’ve ever gotten. From anyone.

Bob Lutz and his personal jet fighter

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Posted at 8:58 am in Bob Lutz, Chevy, Dinner with Bob, Electric Vehicles, John Coyle, Volt

Comments

RAD
Jun 23, 2008 at 9:25 pm

This guy sounds like quite the son of a bitch

Chevy Volt Guy
Jun 20, 2008 at 7:48 pm

Love the Lutz, but I gotta say based on what I have read about the Volt over at http://www.chevy-volt.net I am a little dubious about the car’s future. I guess time will tell!!

GTwildfire
Jun 20, 2008 at 6:52 pm

If congress wastes taxpayer money mulling over such nonsense, they should be smacked upside their heads.
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If anything, legislation may be needed to prod auto makers into making alternatively-powered vehicles, incrementally so models will be developed and introduced. Any legislation shoule be a “carrot and stick” approach, rewarding those who oblidge and punishing those who refuse or underperform based on the guidelines.
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We can’t rely on the industry because they do what’s good for THEM, and if consumers benefit, that’s a fringe benefit. Now more than ever WHAT MANY CONSUMERS WANT should drive the market, not what executives think consumers want, or what they’re willing to provide because it best suits their plans.

Steve
Jun 20, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Tom, you are a funny guy. It’s true too.

I’ll agree with you on the card, John. You lucky dog for meeting Mr. Lutz himself.:)

tom c gray
Jun 20, 2008 at 3:03 pm

I have to laugh at the sheer stupidity of worring about blind predestrians. First is the idiocy that all gas powered cars make noise. Anyone who can hear the engine of a Lexus or Toyota coming down the road must have Superman ears. What you hear are the tires on the pavement, and that’s the same for an electric car. The other absurdity is that blind people use sound to tell when it’s safe to cross the street. If any were ever dumb enough to depend on that nutty strategy, we can assume they are now in their graves. If you are going to require sound for blind people, then by all rights, you should also require bright flashing lights on vehicles for the deaf. And since there are physically handicapped folks, you should not allow autos to travel over 10 MPH, to give those physicalled impaired folks the opportunity to leap out of the way. We also need to install “screamers” in baseballs so that the blind “spectators” at the ball park can tell when that foul ball is headed their way. 3