The company is on the brink of bankruptcy and has had to obtain federal government loans in order to survive into the first quarter of 2009. Sales are dismal and, in order to save money, the company is selling and considering the sale of many of its assets. Workers are being laid off or enticed to retire with buyouts. Plants are closing or production is being cut. Dealerships are shutting down. So, as Lutz prepares to retire, one would think that it was one of those situations when people say, “Don’t let the screen door hit you in the butt on the way out.”
But it seems that is not the case. There is a lot of respect for Lutz within GM and within the auto industry as a whole.
What people seem to like about Lutz is that he brought design back as a central theme in the selling of cars. In 2000 just before the company hired Lutz, it was coming up with one model failure after another. The duds included the Saturn LS, the Cadillac Catera, the Buick Regal, the Pontiac Grand Prix.
Lutz came in and was responsible for the Chevrolet Malibu, the Saturn Aura, the Cadillac CTS, the Pontiac Solstice, the Buick Lucerne and Lacrosse, the 2010 Cadillac SRX, the Saturn Vue, the Chevrolet Tahoe and the Chevy Equinox. And then there is the Volt. GM could have been in a lot worse shape if it wasn’t for Lutz.
So it appears that one has to look behind the curtain to truly ascertain the success of a leader during troubled times.