Lutz: Only 5% of the public wants a green car that they will pay a premium for

Posted: Jun 09, 2009
 Email 3 Comments

In a lengthy interview with The Washington Post, former General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz said that the V8 muscle cars and the Chevrolet Volt will still live on once GM comes out of bankruptcy.

An avid supporter of the Chevrolet Volt, the man who once brought us the Dodge Viper said that the plug-in hybrid electric-vehicle is just the type of product GM needs to produce to satisfy political demand for advanced-technology and fuel-efficient cars.

However, he’s not convinced that the American consumer is yearning for a car like the Chevrolet Volt. Lutz said that the United States is divided into East and West coast intellectuals and the rest of America, which he said still want loud V8 engines.

“When you get out into the marketplace, it’s probably just 5 percent of the public that desperately wants something environmentally sound and is willing to pay a premium for it,” Lutz said.

“I would say the East and West Coast intellectual establishment kind of lives in its own world. When you get to the broad American marketplace, excitement [over autos] is still kind of defined in the way it used to be.”

What are your thoughts on Lutz’s comments?

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Washington Post (via Green Car Advisor)


Share |  Email  Print |

Tags: , , , , , , , ,




Subscribe & Connect

Connect with us on any of our social profiles below.

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.

  • http://collegecars.wordpress.com/ Will

    While I think Lutz is right in the idea that the American love affair with the car is hardly over (sorry, P.J. O'Rourke), taking potshots at the “East and West Coast intellectual establishment” is foolish and cliche.

    Yes, there probably won't be people willing to pay a much higher price for eco-friendly cars right off the bat – but that's because people are pretty reticent to spend their money on anything they feel they don't need, especially these days.

    But it would be easy to market these sort of vehicles to all American consumers – just appeal to their sensibilities. Instead of telling people, “You'll be saving the world by buying gas-electric cars,” GM should be saying, “You'll be saving money in the long run by buying gas-electric cars.” Put a big chart up showing how much it costs to go one mile in a Volt versus a Camry, and people will start buying them.

    As for the performance question, yeah, most of us enthusiasts probably won't be racing out to snap up the first electric cars off the line. But Tesla's made it very clear that just because a car runs on electrons doesn't mean it's boring – or slow. Give it a few years for batteries to become smaller and more efficient, and in a decade or two, electric-powered Camaros will probably be ripping off quarter-mile times quicker than today's SS.

    What Lutz is doing simply alienates everyone – it makes people on the coasts look like arrogant snobs who don't understand “real Americans,” and it makes those “real Americans” look like brain-damaged rednecks incapable of understanding science or logic. When in reality, we're all probably somewhere in the middle.

  • Ivan Gutierrez

    Judging by the vast amount of hybrids on the road, I'd say his estimate of 5% is a little conservative.

  • Ivan Gutierrez

    Judging by the vast amount of hybrids on the road, I'd say his estimate of 5% is a little conservative.