Bob Lutz by John F. Martin/ Courtesy: Penguin Group USA and © GM Company/GM Media Archives

With the L.A. Auto Show taking place this week, PLANET spoke to a genuine auto visionary. He may not believe in man-made climate change, and he may rail against what he calls the media’s tendency to smother the makers of hybrid vehicles like Toyota in superlatives for their environmental correctness. But in the last decade, there is arguably no one else in Detroit who has done more to promote clean, efficient cars than Bob Lutz.
     After stints at other automakers, he rejoined his first employer, General Motors, as vice chairman in 2001 and oversaw the development of the Chevy Volt, a plug-in gas/electric hybrid. The car’s $40,000 price tag puts it out of reach for most drivers, and GM is unlikely to meet its target of 10,000 sales by year’s end, yet the Volt denotes an important if tentative step nevertheless. Now 79 and retired, Lutz talked openly about the events covered in his book, Car Guys VS. Bean Counters, including the past failures of the American auto industry and the road ahead to a future devoid of gasoline: