Bob Lutz
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Electric trucks are getting more attention now than they did eight years ago, as the world prepared for the launch of the first modern electric cars to be sold in volume. The Tesla Semi tends to draw enormous amounts of attention, while less glamorous fleet buyers are ever more favorable toward plug-in electric trucks for known urban routes within their battery range. But one company that's been around for many years has been relatively quiet of late. DON'T MISS: Via Motors 100 MPG Electric Pickup Launching At Detroit (Dec 2011) That would be Via Motors, founded eight years ago to sell...
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Will Tesla Model S be a "collector car"? Tuckers are, but Kaisers aren't: why?
Startup carmaker Tesla is just coming up on the 10th anniversary of its first delivery, the first of the 2,500 Roadster two-seat electric sports cars that launched it into world awareness. The company recently delivered its 300,000th car, putting it well ahead of all but one other startup carmaker...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Corvette plug-in hybrid performance monster coming, Lutz speculates
The next-generation Corvette could get a plug-in hybrid powertrain, says Bob Lutz.
Stephen Edelstein -
VLF Destino (Fisker Karma with V-8, sans electric parts) starts deliveries
Backer Bob Lutz is among the first to take delivery of a VLF Destino.
Stephen Edelstein -
Bob Lutz called 2017 Chevy Bolt EV a 'compliance car'; is it?
Electric-car advocates are often passionate, with memories long enough to remember GM's 2004 destruction of its pioneering fleet of EV1 electric cars. Since then, the company has built and sold two generations of the Chevrolet Volt, with the launch of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV imminent within a...
John Voelcker -
Former GM Exec Bob Lutz: Years Ago, VW Emissions Left Automaker Baffled
Bob Lutz says GM engineers were baffled when they examined VW diesel cars.
Stephen Edelstein -
Henrik Fisker joins the company that wants to build V-8-engined Fisker Karma sedans.
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'Clean Diesel' Is Dead Forever: Bob Lutz On VW's Culture Of Fear
Bob Lutz claims a culture of fear led to Volkswagen's emissions cheating.
Stephen Edelstein -
Former GM Product Czar Bob Lutz Asks: Is Tesla Doomed?
Former General Motors product czar Bob Lutz, now retired for a few years, is largely respected within the auto industry. He stopped flying his MIG fighter jet when he turned 80, as the story goes, but he remains a larger-than-life persona in an industry with fewer and fewer of them. He's still...
John Voelcker -
Tesla A 'Fringe Brand': Former GM Product Czar Bob Lutz (Video)
When an unknown automotive startup from Silicon Valley unveiled an all-electric sports car with supercar performance back in 2006, the shock was enough to make industry giant GM sit up and pay attention. That, plus the desire to gain some of the green halo seized by Toyota's Prius hybrid, led GM's...
John Voelcker -
New Fiskers Will Have V-8s OR Batteries, Wanxiang Says
If lithium-ion batteries are "the heart of Fisker," according to new owner Wanxiang, then what does it say is "the soul of Fisker"? That would be the VL Destino, a version of the Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan with no batteries, electric motors, or plugs at all. MORE: Who's Still...
John Voelcker -
VL Buying Leftover New Fisker Karmas To Yank Out Electric Parts
A ready supply of cars to convert means the VL Destino could hit the road soon.
Stephen Edelstein -
While Fisker and its administrators dig through the paperwork and bids relating to its bankruptcy, one company is hard at work turning its products into something else entirely. That company is VL Automotive, co-founded by ex-GM man Bob Lutz and responsible for giving Fisker Karmas an alternative lease of life. Now VL has turned its attentions to the Fisker Sunset, too--the stillborn convertible concept unveiled when Fisker was enjoying happier days. Called the Destino Red and revealed at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, it treads the same path as the regular four-door Destino sedan. That means a...
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VL Destino's Corvette-Powered Fiskers Still On Target
A V-8 conversion isn't your typical eco-modification, but for Fisker Karma customers it's one way of ensuring a longer-term survival for their vehicle since the company's troubles started well over a year ago. The conversions are offered by VL Automotive, backed by Bob Lutz and using one of two...
Antony Ingram -
Bob Lutz's VL Automotive Bidding For Ailing Fisker: Report
Previously unknown brand VL Automotive surprised Detroit Auto Show goers earlier this year by unveiling the Destino--a V-8-powered luxury sedan based heavily on the Fisker Karma. Now, with Fisker Automotive circling the abyss, Bob Lutz-backed VL is reported to have bid for the ailing luxury...
Antony Ingram -
VIA Motors XTRUX Electric Truck: 2013 Detroit Auto Show Live Photos
What does an 800 horsepower electric truck look like? Just that little bit meaner than any other production truck, as it turns out--if Via Motors' XTRUX electric truck is anything to go by. The wildly powerful range-extended truck was unveiled at this week's Detroit Auto Show. Loosely based on the...
Antony Ingram -
Destino--The Corvette-Powered Fisker Karma: Detroit Auto Show
If you've always felt the 20 mpg Fisker Karma is a little bit too green, a new sport sedan based on the Fisker Karma might be just the car you're looking for. The VL Automotive Destino is essentially Henrik Fisker's range-extended electric car, with all the expensive drivetrain components removed...
Antony Ingram -
Electric Cars Are Doing Just Fine, Says Volt Patron Bob Lutz
Sometimes the glass is half empty, sometimes it's half full. For the future of electric cars, count Bob Lutz on the half-full side--most likely containing a very nice Scotch. Lutz is not only the former GM product development czar, but the man who pushed through the Chevrolet Volt range-extended...
John Voelcker -
Earlier this year, when the EPA confirmed new Corporate Average Fuel Economy gas mileage standards of 54.5 mpg by 2025, we told you that it would equate to greener, cleaner cars which cost less to fuel and pollute less. But according to veteran automotive executive Bob Lutz, the new gas mileage standards will have another benefit: more plug-in cars. Speaking at the Autobeat Insider Conference in Dearborn, Michigan last week, the former Vice Chairman of General Motors predicted that tough gas mileage rules worldwide would increase the global market share of electric vehicles to 15 percent in...
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Bob Lutz: Huge Chevy Volt Cost Estimates Are Wrong, Here's Why
Yesterday, we ran a story sourced through Reuters, asking how much money GM was losing on every Chevy Volt it builds. The Reuters article was based on figures from several Michigan-based industry analysts, claiming that Chevy might be losing up to $49,000 on every Volt it makes. Those figures were...
Antony Ingram -
Jay Leno, Bob Lutz, Talk Plug-ins, Drive Via Plug-in Hybrid Truck
Americans love the utility and functionality of the mighty pickup truck, but not its gas mileage. So its no surprise that talk show host Jay Leno thinks that Americans will love the Via Vtrux, a range-extended, full-size, electric pickup truck that combines the practicality of a Chevy Silverado...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Would You Pay For A 100-MPG Via Full-Size Pickup Truck?
This is a perfectly serious question. A basic 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 full-size pickup truck starts around $23,000, and the rear-wheel drive XFE model is rated by the EPA at 18 mpg combined. The Silverado Hybrid model, a 1500 twin-cab, starts at around $40,000, and the RWD model is rated at...
John Voelcker -
Via Motors To Use A123 Lithium-Ion Cells In Electric Trucks
Via Motors, the extended-range electric truck conversion company with GM legend Bob Lutz on its board, announced today that it would use lithium-ion cells from A123 Systems in its battery packs. The startup company will show its full lineup of electric-drive pickup trucks at next week's Detroit...
John Voelcker -
Via Motors 100 MPG Electric Pickup Launching At Detroit
So far, the range of electric vehicles offered for general sale has been fairly limited - most carmakers have been selling their technology in standard family cars, or city cars. In terms of efficiency, those vehicles are actually relatively good. Why not try and make improvements in the generally...
Antony Ingram