2009 LA Auto Show: Lutz Devotes Keynote Address to GM's Focus on Green Tech

2009 LA Auto Show: Lutz Devotes Keynote Address to GM's Focus on Green Tech

By Scott Doggett December 2, 2009

After telling a story about what can happen to your cattle-ranching operation if you don't know how to handle your brands - a reference to General Motors going to market in North America with just four brands - GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz spent most of his keynote address at the L.A. Auto Show today discussing the "key part of our business strategy," that being an unprecedented focus on green technology.

Lutz, who might replace just-ousted Fritz Henderson as GM's chief executive, went on to describe some of the steps the General has taken recently to produce vehicles that are less dependent on fossil fuels. These include:

• signing an agreement with Reva Electric Car Company to cooperate in the development of small-car-platform-based electric vehicles for India;
• opening a new China Science Lab to perform research in several automotive fields ... "to move China away from its reliance on petroleum";
• opening a new technology center in Brazil to focus, in part, on development of ethanol-based FlexFuel vehicles;
• joining other OEMs in endorsing a single national standard to control greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel economy in the United States.

But that, of course, is not all. The man who not so long ago referred to the theory of global warming as a crock of s**t went on to discuss other green efforts GM is making, including: improvements to the internal combustion engine, broad-scale application of hybrid technology, development of advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol, and work on hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles.

Lutz's speech can be read here.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.