Lutz Lost It: Toyota No Longer God

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

As many of you have probably figured out by now, I’m a firm atheist. You die, you become worm food, and your relatives divide up your estate. Life goes on. However, when I was learning religious education at school, I was told about the many different Gods on offer. We have God, Allah, Buddha (not really a god, but you get the gist), Zeus, Apollo, Thor and loads of others. But at no point did my teacher mention a Japanese car company. Bob Lutz just did.

You guessed it, our favourite near-octogenarian car exec is back with another cracker. Business Week reports that ahead of the March sales figures (and his latest retirement), Bob Lutz was there to stick the boot into Toyota. “We are well ahead of plan and growingly so,” Lutz, 78, said today in an interview at the New York auto show. “Toyota’s God-like status will never be reclaimed.” Lutz also heaped praise on the Chevrolet Equinox “The Equinox is sold out and has a transaction price $5,000 higher than the old Equinox.” Hahaha! Speaking of money: “When we can demonstrate financial success, we will regain the momentum.” and by “momentum” he means “Government can start the IPO and end this investment”. He carried on kicking Toyota: “Toyota will obviously recover, but from now on they’ll just be another one of the guys,” Lutz said. “I don’t think they’ll ever reach the exalted status of the world’s best auto company.”

I wonder if a Toyota ran over his foot when he was younger? Lutz seems to have had it in for Toyota for a while. This is the man who quite happily blamed a Toyota owned supplier for GM’s recall of 1.3 million cars (but when Toyota tried to blame CTS, they were met with scorn). Need more proof? Check out his reason for the Volt. Someone should tell loose-lips-Lulz that there are people who think that GM’s largest stockholder is behind (or at least interested in) the Toyota troubles, and that it’s not the smartest thing to attract attention to it.

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Runfromcheney Runfromcheney on Apr 01, 2010

    I usually like/defend Lutz on this site, but he is wrong in this case. Toyota hasn't lost its halo: That is just what the people in Fortress Detroit like to think so they can hope of a recovery. In reality, everybody knows the Toyota truobles were blown massively out of proportion by idiot drivers and bloodthirsty media hounds. And, unlike Audi, Toyota is way to big to be bullied into submission like Audi was, and when the media grappled onto the story, everybody with half a brain thought, "Haven't we been here before? Its the Audi mess all over again! Don't we ever learn?!?!" In a nutshell, Lutz is wrong this time: in the long term, the damage to Toyota's reputation and customer base will be minimal at best.

  • Charles Barnett Charles Barnett on Apr 02, 2010

    Toyota and others knew they were having issues and attempted to hide it. All Car Companies should have came forward with a full disclosures of what car were dangerous. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. I never seen so many car companies GM - NISSAN - TOYOTA - HYUNDAI having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car was affected until I looked on http://www.car-recalls.info and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , my co workers Ford Truck had a recall also. So be careful

  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
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