Chevy Volt; Behind the Curve
Bob Lutz of GM is quoted in AdAge as saying in 2006, “I was getting so pissed off about reading about how the wonderful, far-sighted Toyota is the only one who understands technology.” In the article this was supposed to be the genesis of the Chevy Volt which has recently been announced will be released in November 2010 for sale at $40,000.
The Chevy Volt, basically a plug-in hybrid, will go 40 miles before the gas engine starts in. The Prius today (costing in the mid $20 thousands) has a smaller battery pack and will run the gas engine much sooner. However, Toyota’s also working on a plug-in hybrid that will be based on their successful Prius.
While Bob Lutz was so pissed off in 2006, he should have remembered back into the 90’s. The federal government under Clinton worked with the Detroit car manufacturers on a joint project to fund research on new car technology like hybrids. The idea was to kick-start innovation in the US on technology we could foresee the need for. Toyota wanted in on that, but was barred from joining. Nothing substantial came from the Detroit-based US-government-funded research effort, innovation and Detroit haven’t fit together for decades now.
But Toyota went off and funded their own internal research project out of their pocket. The best-selling Prius is the result of that effort. Toyota has also licensed the Prius hybrid drive train to Ford and others in the US when it became clear that customers demanded hybrids. Of course, the licensees are behind the curve of technical experience and progress, so they’re making cars with mid-thirties mileage instead of the 50-52 MPG that my Prius gets. So yes, Toyota understands technology, and they understand business too. Especially given the decades-long slow demise of Detroit and the recent need for a bailout, I can’t say that about either GM or Lutz.
So, next time Lutz wants to get pissed off, he should remember that Toyota shouldn’t be the target of his wrath, instead the target should be his own company that wasted their opportunity to be ahead of the curve, and that wasted US tax dollars as well.