“Car Guys vs Bean Counters”

by Bob Lutz

A BOOK REVIEW

A BOOK REVIEW: “CAR GUYS vs BEAN COUNTERS”
by Bob Lutz

WHO THE HELL IS BOB LUTZ?
First off, who is Bob Lutz? After getting his MBA from UC Berkeley and his stint as a Marine Corps fighter pilot, Lutz went to work for GM of Europe in the early 60s (1963-1971). He gave them 8 years before leaving for BMW, where he became a VP (1971-1974), during which time he helped to develop the seminal 3-series that completely turned BMW around. From there he went to Ford of Europe, then moved to the USA where he reinvigorated their truck division and helped design the first Explorer, having served in several key executive positions (1974-1986). Next he moved to Chrysler where he helped launch the Viper and the very successful LH cars (1986-1998), credited with helping turn Chrysler around prior to its sale to Daimler. After a briefly running the Exide Battery corporation, Lutz moved over to GM where he became their Vice Chairman of Global Design. He was a huge part of GMs revival and recent product-driven success. Bob Lutz is known industry-wide as a product guy, a true car guy, not a financial or numbers person. During his career, and particularly after his arrival at GM in 2001 (2001-2010), he fought with an almost religious zeal to bring highly-aspirational products (cars and trucks) back into the equation, feeling that for too long accountants (bean counters) have been running the show, and he oversaw a complete product revival at GM.

WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY ‘CAR GUYS vs BEAN COUNTERS?
Detroit (the American auto industry as a whole) was built by car guys, product men who instinctively knew how to design and build cars. Even as the industry grew and the founders became executives, product men were essential to building the cars, and had great value. Finance people were considered secondary, and there only as an inconvenient necessity to support the production of cars. But after World War II everything changed. Smart “Whiz Kids” fresh out of business school swooped down on Detroit, led by Robert McNamara, and virtually took it over. The Finance Department (known as “bean counters”) quickly moved to the forefront, pushing product into the back seat. Once-revered product men became a dying breed, were pushed out and never replaced. The effect over many decades was an American auto industry being driven by everything but product. Government regs for smog, CAFE and safety; the Unions, the economy, the competition, diversification and a relentless drive for ever high stock prices became the focus, while building great cars became an afterthought. When Bob Lutz arrived at GM, he was horrified at what he found. The bean counters had broken down every step of every process into mathematically-precise methods that were supposed to produce consistent and reliable results. On paper. In fact, they did. The consistently and reliably produced mediocre products that only sold with heavy incentives. Bean-counting wasn’t working.

LUTZ TAKES ON THE SYSTEM
The book “Car Guys vs Bean Counters” details Lutz’s battle to return GM to rational product design, and eliminate layers of needless, or worse counterproductive, managers and executives (more bean counters). In doing so, he returned control over the products GM produces to the product people, where it belongs, and the result have been some stunning successes, including the Chevy Malibu, C6 & C7 Corvettes, Chevy trucks, the entire Buick and Cadillac divisions, and one of Lutz’s proudest accomplishments at GM, the Chevy Volt. There are lots of back stories and inside tracks that only a guy like Lutz can offer, having been so intimately ensconced in the auto industry at the highest level.