RIP: General Motors' Fastlane Blog 2006-2015
General Motors quietly redirected its Fastlane Blog back to the mothership in December, signaling an end to the direct-to-C-suite “conversations” you could have with automotive executives.
The blog, which once hosted Maximum Bob’s musings on life, design and resign, was held up as a paragon for corporate communication in its day ( it won a Webby) and provided fodder for this site.
We hardly knew ye.
It was prophetic. Lutz on $2 gas: “People will exercise their freedom to buy the vehicle they want, V8 engine and all.”
It was controversial. Lutz on buying an import: “Stan, I guess it depends whether you have your own personality or whether you are a lemming-like follower of current trends.”
It was bombastic. Lutz on scoreboard, bro: “We went from having, at least in North America, some mediocre products to having acclaimed products that are selling extremely well, especially on the passenger car side. In June, for example, in a slow market, our retail car sales were up 8 percent.”
It was retrospective. Lutz on leaving: “This business isn’t all that complicated. Do the best product you can do, and if it looks better and drives better than the other guy’s, you win.”
And now it’s gone.
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Makes sense; sounds like it was mostly just Bob Lutz's blog, and he's not with GM anymore. Though I'm somewhat surprised he didn't stick to Livejournal, a la GRRM. Also, when the generation before the current Silverado first came out, they made it the background image of the blog. ...But it was backwards, so the bowtie was backwards. Their designers kept a prominent backwards Chevy logo on their award-winning website for weeks if not months.
Robert Maxumus does something similar now on R&T. I'm not going to link to it so this doesn't look like a paid advertisement.
Blog cancelled because Mary Barra is two busy violating the principles of good corporate governance by being CEO, President and Chairman. That and planning a redecoration of the Ren Cen.
Bob Lutz is bombastic and easy to criticize, but at least the blog had a unique voice when he wrote it. Since he stopped doing it, the "blog" was essentially a series of press releases with comments sections attached. It should have been discontinued years ago.