GM's Lutz Plans Busy Retirement
March 09, 2010
So what will the 78-year-old Bob Lutz, who has spent nearly half a century in the auto 
business, do in what he quips is his "early" retirement?
He's got a long to-do list: write, talk, fly, advocate and entertain other options put before him.
Last week's Geneva motor show was abuzz with the rumors that Lutz, who had already announced his retirement from General Motors once, would do it again at any moment.
At the dinner he hosts with media during the show on what turned out to be the eve of the announcement, Lutz dodged the question of when but the conversation clearly sounded like swan song.
AutoObserver asked Lutz not when but what: what would he do in retirement whenever it occurs?
He clearly had given it much thought as it was a lengthy dissertation.
First, he'll write. Lutz intends to write a book; something on corporate culture. It will be "more serious and more intellectual" than Guts: 8 Laws of Business from One of the Most Innovative Business Leaders of Our Time, published in 1998 after he had left Chrysler and before he went to GM in 2001 with an in-between stop at battery maker Exide.
He'll entertain writing for an automotive media outlet. He says as a kid reading Road & Track magazine, he thought he would be fun to write for such a publication.
He'll talk. He's signing on with a bureau to do the lecture circuit.
He'll go back to school - flight school that is. Lutz wants to obtain his multi-engine license, something he hasn't had since he was a young U.S. Marine pilot.
He'll champion animal rights causes. He and wife Denise have long been active supporters of such causes. Their home often houseshomeless dogs. Lutz is particularly sympathetic to dogs rescued from dog-fighting circles and the Detroit Humane Society that rescues the animals.
And he's open to anything else that may be proposed to him. Some consulting jobs surely will come his way.
What Lutz won't do is get up at 4:30 a.m. every day for 6 and 7 a.m. meetings; his weekend 8 a.m. rise and shine time is more like it on a daily basis, he says. He's tired of seeing ugly designs.
He said this year's Geneva show depressed him, reminding him - in a different way - of an earlier era of ugly designs that he dubbed "angry kitchen appliances."
He probably won't serve on corporate boards either, having already done that.
Retirement Announced
The next day after our dinner, Lutz joined a small group of U.S. journalists and analysts on a test drive along Lake Geneva and into the Swiss countryside of the Euro-spec Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Spark that soon will go on sale in the States.
At the quintessentially Swiss town of Guyeres, famous for its cheese and fondue, Lutz confided that he indeed would announce his May 1 retirement the next day. He read the press release that would be sent out - one that he had mostly written. He swore us to secrecy.
AutoObserver commented to Lutz that it was appropriate that he was announcing his retirement in the land of his birth (he was born in Zurich). Without hesitation, Lutz added: "And the land of Louis Chevrolet's birth."
As the group was about to leave the restaurant, a small group of young Mexican professionals approached Lutz. As it turned out, they worked for a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Mexico and were in Switzerland for the Geneva motor show. They instantly recognized Lutz, had overhead the conversation and asked if they could be photographed with the automotive rock star, a request Lutz happily obliged.
By the time our group reached the foot of the mountain, Lutz's secret was splashed across the Internet. - Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
Photograph by GM-hired photographer Walter Tillman
Lutz announced his upcoming retirement in his birthland of Switzerland.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:16 AM under GM , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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