Bob Lutz (businessman)

Early life

Lutz was born in Zurich, Switzerland, the son of Margaret and Robert Harry Lutz. His father was a Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse. Lutz left Switzerland at the age of seven and spent time in Scarsdale, New York, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1943, and returned to Switzerland in 1947 to attend school in Lausanne. He is fluent in English, Swiss German, German, French and has a modest fluency in Italian.

Lutz received a bachelor's degree in Production Management in 1961 followed by an MBA with a concentration in Marketing with highest honors in 1962, both from UC Berkeley; he earned the latter when he was flying in the United States Marine Corps Reserve's 4th Marine Aircraft Wing and supporting two of four young daughters by selling vacuum cleaners in Walnut Creek, California. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Law from Boston University in 1985, and an honorary degree of Doctor of Management from Kettering University in 2003. He is a trustee of the Marine Corps University Foundation and the Marine Military Academy.

Career

After leaving the Marines, Lutz spent eight years with GM in Europe before joining BMW serving as Executive Vice President of sales at BMW for three years. He takes some credit in the development of the BMW 3-Series as well as their Motorsport division.

Lutz was also an Executive Vice President at Ford Motor Company. At Ford of Europe, he led the creation of the Ford Escort III, and Ford Sierra, and upon returning to the US in 1985, initiated development of the original Ford Explorer, and was a Member of Ford's Board of Directors. He was a frequent internal political rival of eventual Ford CEO Red Poling.

Lutz became head of Chrysler Corporation's Global Product Development, including the very successful Dodge Viper and LH series cars. Former Chrysler Chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca, who helped steer the company back to profitability after receiving loans from private banks backed by the U.S. Government in 1979, said he should have picked Lutz as his successor rather than Bob Eaton upon Iacocca's retirement at the end of 1992, but at the time Iacocca and Lutz were not getting along. Eaton was responsible for the sale of Chrysler to Daimler-Benz in 1998 which Daimler ended up backing out of in 2007 when it sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management. Referring to the job performance of Eaton, Iacocca claimed that Lutz "would eat him for lunch".

While at General Motors, Lutz championed the import of the Holden Monaro to the United States as the Pontiac GTO. Other cars such as the Cadillac Sixteen Concept; Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice; Pontiac G8; Chevrolet Malibu; Cadillac CTS; Buick Enclave; Cadillac Converj Concept; Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept; Chevrolet Camaro; Chevy Beat, Groove and Trax Concept Studies; and 2010 Buick Lacrosse, Chevrolet Equinox, and Cadillac SRX are said to be Lutz initiatives. Lutz has also emphasized a need to produce fuel efficient vehicles, backing the 2010 Chevrolet Volt.

Lutz maintained the "Fastlane" blog hosted at GM Blogs.

In 2008, Lutz said that "the electrification of the automobile is inevitable".

On February 9, 2009, GM announced that Lutz would step down on April 1, 2009, from his position as Vice Chairman of Global Product Development, to take an advisory role. He was to retire from GM at the end of 2009. Lutz said that one reason for his decision was the increasing regulatory climate in Washington that would force GM to produce what Federal regulators wanted, rather than what customers wanted. Lutz has expressed skepticism on the issue of global warming.

During a July 10, 2009, press conference, GM stated that Lutz would remain at GM as Vice Chairman responsible for all creative elements of products and customer relationships and that his role as Vice Chairman of Global Product Development would be assumed April 1, 2009, by Thomas G. Stephens, then Executive Vice President of Global Powertrain and Global Quality. Lutz, Stephens, and design chief Ed Welburn would work together to guide all creative aspects of design. Lutz would also lead the effort to better guide GM's brands, and the automaker's marketing, advertising, and communications teams would report to Lutz in an effort to develop a more consistent message and results. Lutz would report directly to Fritz Henderson, and be part of the newly formed Executive Committee. Lutz retired from General Motors May 2, 2010.

Lutz is currently head of the consulting firm Lutz Communications. He is also Chairman of The New Common School Foundation, a member of the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Marine Corps University Foundation, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas. He joined the Transonic Combustion, Inc. Board of Directors on May 24, 2010.

On August 6, 2012, The NanoSteel Company, a nano-structured steel materials designer, announced an investment by GM Ventures in the company. On October 10, 2012, NanoSteel announced the appointment of Bob Lutz to its board of directors. The Providence, RI-based company said that it "has achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of nano-structured sheet steel with exceptional strength and ductility" for the automotive industry.

Chronology

Personal life

Lutz is known as a collector of classic automobiles and military jets. Among other aircraft, he owns and pilots an Aero L-39 Albatros (an advanced Czechoslovakian jet fighter trainer) and an MD-500 helicopter. Further, he maintains a collection of motorcycles that include a Suzuki Hayabusa, a BMW K1200RS, a BMW K1200S, a BMW R1100S, a BMW K-1 and a BMW HP2 Sport.

His younger brother Mark A. Lutz is a retired economics professor.

Lutz was interviewed in the 2011 documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car.