(Source: Autoweek)

Bob Lutz, General Motors’ soon-to-retire product czar, said Thursday that not only does he support and endorse the work of President Barack Obama’s automotive task force, but he’d also like to see the government-industry entity become a permanent fixture.

 “Benevolent oversight and two-way communication between Washington and the auto industry” would be a good thing, Lutz told members of the Automotive Press Association at a luncheon Thursday in Detroit.

“Jeez, it only took 30 years for somebody to finally figure it out,” he said.

Lutz cited–and praised–the new federal fuel-economy regulations as an example of what industry and government can do when they work together. Though the new CAFE requirements mandate 35.5 mpg by 2016, Lutz said many parts of the new rules reflect industry positions on the particulars of the law.

The positions voiced by Lutz seem at odds with the suggestion that the GM product vice chairman is leaving GM at year’s end in part because he doesn’t want to deal with life at “Government Motors,” which GM has been called since taking government loans and accepting task-force oversight.

On the contrary, Lutz said, he began to warm to the task-force members when they visited Detroit and seemed more interested in the 560-hp Cadillac CTS coupe than in GM’s more economical offerings.

“That was sort of the moment that I began to take heart,” Lutz said.

(FYI -You can also listen to an audio commentary by folks @ Autoweek on Mr. Lutz words about GM’s future.)

(Source: Jalopnik, Wired, Autoblog, Detroit News)

GM chair fears deal can’t be reached: Kent Kresa, interim chairman of General Motors Corp., is not optimistic money-saving concessions can be reached with bondholders and the United Auto Workers to avoid bankruptcy before a June 1 deadline. “I’m hopeful we can get there,” Kresa told The Detroit News today. “Everybody understands we would be in a much better situation if we can resolve this among all the players without going through bankruptcy.” GM is trying to restructure about $28 billion in unsecured debt held by GM’s bondholders and $20 billion in obligations to the United Auto Workers. The federal government also may agree to swap some of its $13.4 billion in General Motors Corp. debt for new equity in the company in a move to help boost GM’s balance sheet.

GM chairman looking to turn over half of board of trustees by June? According to the Detroit Free Press, General Motors interim chairman, Kent Kresa, has been asked by president Obama’s administration to replenish the automaker’s board with fresh blood. Kresa said that while the board did achieve “historic things” recently, like renegotiating the UAW pay scale, he also said that the board didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of the downturn. 

 GM Says Volt Won’t ‘Pay the Rent’ : General Motors won’t make money on its electric car for quite awhile. That’s to be expected, and it should be supported. The Obama administration doesn’t understand that.

GM, Task Force preparing for “surgical” bankruptcy: According to a lengthy report by the New York Times, the Treasury Department is directing General Motors to begin work on a bankruptcy filing by June 1. Based on sources close to the talks who were unable to officially discuss the process, the report outlines the “fast ‘surgical’ bankruptcy” of the automaker if GM is unable to reach an agreeme…

GM‘s new offer for bondholders may contain no cash, just equity: …GM, Earnings/FinancialsGM’s most recent offer to its bondholders offered a little bit of cash and a little bit of equity. GM CEO Fritz Henderson’s example was that a holder of $1,000 in bonds would end up with $333 and a some equity. After conferring with the Auto Task Force, however, that offer was deemed excessive in light of GM‘s situation so…