Maximum Bob Lutz To Make Final Exit In 2008?
We assumed the day would come when Maximum Bob Lutz would eventually have to leave the General and the automotive world he's called home for so long now. We knew at some point he'd have to retire again, and this time would more than likely be the last. As we're wont to do, we'd even tried to come up with some ideas on how we hoped he'd end his career (for the final time) here in the D. Our thoughts ran the gamut of possibilities, crystallizing around two fervent hopes for how Maximum Bob should slip the auto-mortal coil. Morbidly enough, both involve him being diagnosed with an incurable and deadly disease (more than likely from years of over-indulgence on loin-burgers), and both involve him piloting a jet. The first would have him making a kamikaze-like run at the Toyota Technical Center in York Township outside of Ann Arbor, MI in a last ditch effort to take the plans for the next-gen Supra with him. The second involves him calling everyone up to Coach Insignia at the top of the RenCen for a farewell party and then dive-bombing past the phallic towers, heading nose-first into the Detroit River. Either way, in our minds at least, we'd be viewing...
...a spectacular finish for his career. But never in our wildest imagination did we think we'd find out he might leave the industry he's called home for so many years via a memo to GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster from CEO RIck Wagoner to explain he'll be taking over Maximum Bob's seat on the board of directors and leader of product development in 2008. Not only did we like our ideas better, but we're disappointed because we totally would have enjoyed the opportunity to run a headline that said:
"Bob Lutz: Born From Jets, Died From Jet"
Come on Bob, you can still make our dream a reality. Do it for us.
GERMANY: Opel's Forster seen replacing GM's Lutz (sub req.) [Just-Auto.com via Autoblog]
Related:
What About Bob: Lutz's Latest Hits; Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Bob Lutz Eats "Hamburgers" At The GM Holiday Party, We Eat It Up; Maximum Bob Lutz: Born From Sunglasses; The End Of The World Is Near? Bob Lutz Claims General Motors Still Open To Alliance With Ford [internal]