Revolting: GM Executive Bob Lutz Denies Global Warming, Trashes His Company’s Car
Revolting: GM Executive Bob Lutz Denies Global Warming, Trashes His Company’s Car
General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz, on the 100th anniversary of GM’s founding, appeared on Stephen Colbert’s show last night, and embarassed his company. Lutz, unfortunately for this aging industrial giant, is a Luddite, supporting the most extreme crackpot denials of the science of climate change and attacking the Volt — GM’s next-generation hybrid automobile that can run entirely on electricity for trips of 40 miles or less — as a weak, unattractive car. His extremism was barely matched by Colbert’s parodic statements:
Colbert: Why not just call this the Chevy Gore? You don’t believe global warming is real, you’ve said so.
Lutz: I accept that the planet is heated, but I, like many noted scientists, I don’t believe in the CO2 theory.
Colbert: Exactly! I just think that people are leaving their toaster ovens open. [Or] it’s just sun-spot activity.
Lutz: In the opinion of about 32,000 of the world’s leading scientists, yes.
Watch it:
Lutz’s “32,000 of the world’s leading scientists” nonsense is taken from press releases by the right-wing industry-funded Heartland Institute, amplified by right-wing blogs and radio shows. This is a zombie lie, which was begun in 1998 by the right-wing industry-funded Oregon Institute. The National Academy of Sciences, whose name was misleadingly used, issued this warning on April 20, 1998:
The petition project was a deliberate attempt to mislead scientists and to rally them in an attempt to undermine support for the Kyoto Protocol. The petition was not based on a review of the science of global climate change, nor were its signers experts in the field of climate science.
One might think Lutz was merely joking along, but this February, Lutz called global warming “a total crock of shit.” General Motors deserves better leadership, particularly when its economic future depends on escaping the suicidal oil-based economy that has driven the company to the brink. As Max Gladwell writes:
The irony is that Lutz and his ilk are buying this Big Oil propaganda. Meanwhile, his company’s cozy relationship with Big Oil has lead them to the verge of bankruptcy, unless American taxpayers come through with a bailout. The supreme irony is that the bailout is to help GM meet efficiency standards that it needs to achieve anyway to stay competitive with foreign automakers. When will they learn?
UPDATE: The Seminal’s Josh Nelson notes, “On their website, GM claims to be concerned about the environment. They even specifically address their greenhouse gas emissions:”
There is no question that our products and manufacturing facilities have an impact on the environment. Not only do internal combustion engines produce emissions and greenhouse gases, but in the process of building millions of vehicles per year, our manufacturing facilities emit CO2 and greenhouse gases as well. The good news is that GM is hard at work trying to reduce our impact on the environment.
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11 Responses to “Revolting: GM Executive Bob Lutz Denies Global Warming, Trashes His Company’s Car”
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If GM does come begging for a Federal Bailout… as many expect.. in the next few days/weeks/months, congress should attach a “fire Lutz first” clause.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:31 pmI’m confused why you call him a Luddite–that’s usually a pejorative for environmentalists, one some even embrace since the original Luddites fought new technology that put them out of work, delaying its implementation for years.
I see the “delaying” part in Lutz (and, having watched last night, was baffled why GM would send this idiot dinosaur to Colbert, when what they needed was a perky spokeswoman, whom Colbert could not have embarassed), but this is someone who instead is implementing technology that has societal goods, even as he ignorantly denies one of the main arguments for it.
Sure Americans want to save gas, and those of us who understnad peak oil even undertand why plug-ins would be better than current hybrids, but this guy, who admits this cute little car HIS OWN COMPANY WANTS PEOPLE TO BUY won’t entice the best looking women to look at the driver is simply not doing his job.
no Luddite is Bob Lutz. I’m one, and we don’t want him.
(Hard to imagine who might–besides Colbert. The interview was brilliant. and GM is doomed.)
September 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm“Like the American automobile never exported a US job?”
Er, that should have read “Like the American automobile industry never exported a US job?”
Sometimes it’s hard to proofread through the rage…
September 18th, 2008 at 5:16 pmIt’s sweet justice that Toyota and Honda are eating GM’s and Ford’s lunch. This history of this is just laughable: http://www.maxgladwell.com/ 2008/ 08/ gm-could-be-serious-about-gas-free-a-look-at-the-history-behind-the-chevy-volt/
Consistently making the worst business decisions for shareholders, employees, and the public. They need to collapse or get acquired by the Chinese, which has stricter fuel economy standards than the US.
September 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pmUm, yeah: ’cause I always look for a rational, scientific explanation to someone who lines his wallet with my money and therefore is likely—in the extreme—to ignore available evidence and say whatever will result in his pocket being fattened.
And, while we’re on that subject… a 45 billion dollar bailout for the US automobile industry? What, so morons like Bob Lutz can continue to collect performance related bonuses and ridiculously high salaries for driving these historic [some might now reasonably say, prehistoric] American manufacturing powerhouses into the ground?
Where’s Senator McCain on this? Oh, yeah - he supports the bailout, purportedly as a dike against job losses. Uh, huh. Okay, if you say so. Like the American automobile never exported a US job?
September 18th, 2008 at 5:39 pmOkay, that wasn’t me. I swear.
@3 above belongs beneath @5 below it. Who turned back the clock?
Are Republican operatives running around loose? Or, is everything just over, under sideways, down in this ridiculous campaign season?
September 18th, 2008 at 5:45 pmIf you think that interview was interesting, you should see him squirm on “The Hour with George Strombolopolous”, one of Canada’s top-rated talk shows. George didn’t pull any punches, and when Bob pleaded the 5th Amendment to avoid a global warming question, George reminded him that he wasn’t in the US.
Link to interview:
September 18th, 2008 at 6:14 pmhttp://www.cbc.ca/ thehour/ videos.html?id=859964433
One only has to look at the abysmal record of GM as a car company to see where Lutz is coming from. I say let him peddle his lunacy, american cars really suck anyway and is time for one of them to close. Just a reminder to all of those wack jobs out there, there are plenty of “foreign” cars made in this country as well that actually serve the needs of the consumer.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:20 pmHmmm… another interpretation of “Luddite” might be to look at what they were protesting, namely the industrialization and mass production of goods that were formerly produced by hand.
In hindsight, you might say that the Luddites were the forerunners of the anti-globalization movement. I’ve got a hand-knitted sweater (made by the owner of the sheep that provide the wool) and it’s a much higher quality than the sweaters you buy at Wal-Mart.
C’mon, compare a piece of chocolate made by an independent chocolatier in their own shop to a Hershey bar and tell me they were so wrong.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:22 pmOh, I’m defending Luddites, by the way, not Chairman Putz. It’s insulting to Luddites to compare them to him.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:24 pmEven if you don’t believe in global warming, electric cars are still a good idea from a, get-us-off-of-foreign-oil, perspective.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:46 pm