Despite vastly improved vehicles, General Motors still saw a drop in retail sales in January. While he knows there are challenges ahead, GM Vice Chairman and head product guy Bob Lutz has confidence in GM’s turnaround.

But Lutz says it’ll be a few more years before GM’s new image takes hold. “An image transformation such as ours is really a five-year process,” Lutz said in an interview. “We’re two or 2 1/2 years into it.”

By the time consumer perception of GM catches up to the reality, Lutz, who turned 75 this week, may be at the end his career, which likely expains some of Lutz’s fire.

But Lutz sees hope for GM and the other domestics in people under 25. “Generation Y never experienced the bad days of the American automobile industry,” said Lutz. “Their parents carry the baggage of the bad ’70s and bad ’80s.”

While GM continued to produce better and better vehicles, all it took was sitting in an Audi or a Lexus for Lutz to rememeber it had a long way to go.

“And now, to my satisfaction, I can go from a Silverado to a Toyota Tundra, and tell myself we’re better,” said Lutz.

“I can compare the new CTS and to any German luxury brand and say, ‘By God, we’re as good as they are.’”

Lutz knows his career is coming to a close and is racing to the finish line.

## Source: The Detroit News ##

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