Old Man Lutz Weighs in on Donald Trump, Tesla Motors, and the State of the U.S. Auto Industry

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

If you’re unfamiliar with Bob Lutz, it’s likely that you’re a recent addition to the world of automotive enthusiasm. Allow me to be the first to welcome you. The rest of us have been following Lutz’s career shift from extremely outspoken auto executive to extremely outspoken car blogger for years. Now 85, he hasn’t become any less critical of the industry after entering his “retirement,” nor has his advanced age done much to soften his frank rhetoric.

Love or hate him, Lutz’s time spent jumping between the Big Three has provided him with unique insights — and he always has plenty to say on the current state of the American automotive industry. His most recent revelations circle around the unsustainable nature of Tesla and his growing distaste for president Trump, despite his having voted for him.

Speaking with Bobby at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, The Los Angeles Times probed him on electric cars and what his former EV advocacy allows him to discern about the future of Elon Musk’s Tesla.

“I don’t know why it is that otherwise intelligent people can’t see what’s going on there. They lose money on every car, they have a constant cash drain, and yet everybody talks as if this is the most miraculous automobile company of all time,” Lutz said.

He continued by expressing how Tesla’s distinctive product could easily be mimicked by other automakers. Most manufacturers already have competitive electric vehicles already in development or on the road, something Lutz was careful to point out. But he doesn’t see all-electric vehicles as a viable option for any company’s chief product. Tesla’s autonomous features are its ace-in-the-hole, but the practical application of those features is still years away.

“Raising capital is not going to help, because fundamentally the business equation on electric cars is wrong. They cost more to build than what the public is willing to pay. That’s the bottom line.”

While Lutz does concede that Tesla offers a gorgeous and intriguing option in the Model S, the rest of its lineup won’t be enough to carry it onward — especially since he doesn’t foresee EV demand improving at the same rate some of the more optimistic market research speculates.

When General Motors stopped running consumer trials of the mass-produced EV1 electric car in the late 1990s, Lutz famously said, in an interview with Charlie Rose, that the vehicle cost over $250,000 to produce and was being leased for only $300 per month. Afterward, he began pushing for the Chevrolet Volt as an all-electric but admitted that there were notable advantages to hybridization.

Lutz says he remains a proponent of electric cars but doesn’t have a lot of faith in the mainstream market. He especially doesn’t believe consumers will flock to EVs while fuel remains affordable. “I’m a longtime proponent of federal taxation on motor fuels, and the time to do it is now, when gas prices are low,” he said. “You put 25 cents on and there’s a big hue and cry, but by the time the midterm elections roll around it’s forgotten. I’d dedicate the 25 cents a gallon to infrastructure.”

Bob actually seemed fixated on the dire need to improve America’s infrastructure throughout the interview, something the president often cited in his own campaign promises. However, with some overlap on decreasing corporate taxes and rolling back regulations, that’s about the extent of what the two men agree on. Despite voting for him, Lutz had plenty of negative things to say about Donald Trump.

“If I had any influence over him, which I don’t, I would strongly encourage him to stop that, especially the angry tweets. Let’s face it, it’s juvenile. What is he, 71 or 72? You’d think he’d have developed a thicker skin.”

He went on to say that he feels the president is approaching the North American Free Trade Agreement entirely wrong. “The problem isn’t Mexico. Mexico, automotively, is to a large extent a two-way street. We export a lot. And our Mexican plants take our components and ship them all over the world,” Lutz explained. “Mexico was part of the salvation of the American auto industry against the Japanese. If he wants to look at unfair trade, he should look at Europe. They essentially ship tax-free vehicles to the United States [without reciprocation].”

[Image: General Motors]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Whatnext Whatnext on Apr 02, 2017

    Uh, hate to burst your "get off my lawn" bubble with this from last week's ABQ Journal: "New Mexico’s solar job growth is on fire, with employment up 54 percent last year, according to a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Solar Foundation." https://www.abqjournal.com/977137/solar-job-growth-exploding-in-nm.html

    • See 8 previous
    • Highdesertcat Highdesertcat on Apr 03, 2017

      @28-Cars-Later "So, you paid for it America." America's tax payers sure did pay for it. Got taken to the cleaners for it. I think there is room to utilize ALL sources of energy generation to include solar, wind, nuclear. But we have fields and fields of solar farms in MY area and get to use none of it because it is all exported to the El Paso, TX, area. Yet we have a surcharge on our electric bill to pay for all those solar farms and underused windfarms that stand idle much of the time.

  • KixStart KixStart on Apr 03, 2017

    They didn't ask him any questions about VIA Motors. That's disappointing.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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