We’ve seen some comments on appearances by GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz the Charlie Rose’s PBS interview program earlier this week.
In case you missed the shows, here’s a chance to download Rick’s and Bob’s interviews. Take a look to get a very interesting perspective and to hear a frank, open dialogue about GM and its place in the global automotive marketplace.
By Larry Burns
GM Vice President, Research & Development
Volatile oil prices have been dominating the news lately, underscoring growing unease about the automobile’s heavy dependence on petroleum. As these concerns reverberate from Main Street to Wall Street, General Motors is working toward new solutions that will answer the growing demand for personal transportation in an affordable and sustainable way.
Because GM believes there is no single technology solution to displace petroleum, we are aggressively pursuing biofuels such as E85 ethanol and leveraging other efficiencies such as advanced engines and hybrids. We also are developing entirely new technology solutions that do not rely on petroleum, such as the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicles.
Another alternative, natural gas, is enticing because it is abundant, affordable and relatively clean. This week in Washington, D.C., the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming listened to testimony on the role natural gas can play in our nation’s transportation sector.
In the near term, we can use compressed natural gas (CNG) in internal combustion engines. Mid term, we can leverage natural gas to create electricity for the Volt and future variants. In the long term, natural gas could be an excellent source for making hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, either at the filling station or in people’s homes.
Christopher Barger
Director, Global Communications Technology
You’ve probably noticed as you logged on this morning that we have a new look for FastLane. Welcome to FastLane 2.0! We’ve redesigned FastLane for a few reasons, and I wanted to go through the changes with you.
The most obvious change is the new look. We started FastLane in January 2005, and, with some tweaks, it’s had the same look throughout its lifetime. Three and a half years is an eternity online, so it was high time for a fresh look – one that incorporates more of 2008’s web experience.
You’ll notice that we’ve updated the design to fit higher-resolution monitors. More and more people have swankier monitors these days, and many of you were asking for the capability to show off bigger pictures – so we’ve accommodated that request.
We’ve made it easier to find more of our web properties. Since FastLane first launched, a whole new set of communicative tools have emerged – and while we’ve adopted them, we didn’t always make it easy for you to find them. So now there’s an embedded YouTube player with the latest GM video, a larger Twitter box with the latest activity in our feed, and a pull of our Flickr photos that we post.
We’re now streaming user comments, so you can more easily keep up with not only what GM has to say, but how other members of this community are responding to us, and what you have to say about the subjects we cover.
You’ll notice that our category selection now shows the most recent post in that grouping. It’s just a small way to make it easier for you to find the most recent developments in areas that particularly interest you.
We’ve added a new category, too – Concept Cars. Since so many people enjoy the possibilities and design cues that can be found in GM’s concept vehicles – and since some of these vehicles will be important to GM’s future – we wanted to add a category for those of you who dig on our concepts.
We’re making these changes to get FastLane a little more up with the times. We’re going to make our content more accessible to a 2008 audience. At the end of the day, it’s our content that drives whether FastLane is relevant to you as a reader – and we’re planning to offer you meatier posts in the coming weeks and months. But in the meantime, these design changes are a great way to start making our blog more relevant and useful in today’s social media environment.
We’re looking your feedback on the design changes here on FastLane. Please let us know what you think– we’d love to hear!
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
As you’ve no doubt heard me say before, we’ve made a lot of progress in the past few years at General Motors. And we’ve delivered on what we said we would do. We’ve tackled the legacy costs. We’ve improved our quality. 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.
We continue to reinvigorate our product portfolio. We’re pursuing advanced propulsion technologies that will greatly reduce dependence on petroleum. And, we’re reacting to the swiftly changing market conditions here in the U.S.
But even with all the changes we’ve made and the actions we’ve taken, our business results aren’t yet what we want them to be. Why not? What went wrong?
Well, we got hit with a triple whammy: we face a generalized economic weakness due to the mortgage meltdown, which is creating a borderline financial crisis in the United States and other parts of the world; we have seen a big decline in the dollar; and we have, of course, experienced an unpredictable and very rapid rise in fuel prices.
Now, it’s easy for everyone to say about oil prices, “They should have seen it coming.” My answer to that is nobody saw it coming. Not the economists, not the governments, not the oil companies, not the smartest pundits in the world – no one saw it coming, not this kind of rise.
Greetings, everyone. Well, it’s starting to get a little quiet around here as GM gears up (or is it down?) for the annual summer shutdown period observed by U.S. automakers every year. As such, we won’t be posting much to the blogs for the next two weeks, but not to worry, we’ll be back in
full swing following shutdown. I think you’ll like what you see. More to come on that later.
For our U.S. readers, have a great 4th of July weekend. - Adam Denison, GM Social Media Coordinator
By Martin Walsh
General Manager, HUMMER
In preparing for the announcement about General Motors’ putting HUMMER up for strategic review this week, we anticipated that subsequent rumors and speculation about the brand’s fate would soon begin. They have, and we can expect these things to swirl while we examine possible outcomes. But I want you to know that in the end I believe the HUMMER name, and its line-up of iconic vehicles, will still be purchased and enjoyed by customers around the world.
Globally, in eight short years, the HUMMER name has become one of the strongest brand names in the automotive industry. Today HUMMER vehicles are sold in 37 different countries around the globe. And outside the US, where the world has been living with high fuel prices for the past decade, 2008 sales through April were up 34.8% compared to 2007. It is a high-end product that holds inherent profit potential and already has a loyal and vibrant customer base. And, with nearly 60 % of HUMMER customers coming from outside GM product lines, it has highest conquest rate of any brand in the GM portfolio and HUMMER buyers are among GM’s youngest and most affluent.
By Keith Childs
GM Europe Communications
Credit where credit is due: FastLane has inspired us to launch a blog that will talk about GM brands that we market in Europe. Although FastLane does cover global subjects, we felt it was time to have a blog that primarily focused on initiatives and issues important to a European audience. Carl-Peter Forster, President of GM Europe, will take the lead on this new blog called Driving Conversations and, like FastLane, other executives will be contributing. If you have an interest in what GM is doing across the pond please pay us a visit — and maybe leave us a comment.
By Christopher Barger
Director, GM Global Communications Technology
If you haven’t been able to tell over the last few years, GM is really, really trying to do things differently, and not just in the way we’re designing and engineering our products.
This means telling our story, and spurring conversations both with and among the driving public, in a more honest and open kind of way. Our blogs have always tried to stay faithful to that premise (even if we don’t always have the chance to engage as often as we’d like), and we plan to build on it going forward.
Check out FYI for a post from OnStar’s Chet Huber about Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, the latest from OnStar. -Alicia Dorset, blog editor
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman is now disillusioned with Toyota, which only last year he suggested should take over GM, and angry with the rest of the auto industry over pending fuel economy legislation. Take a look at our FYI blog post to read our rebuttal, and let us know what you think.
– Christopher Barger, Director, GM Global Communications Technology
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