The vice-chairman and car czar of General Motors spoke admiringly of a recent column by AutoWeek magazine's publisher, Rich Ceppos.
''I have sampled numerous vehicles riddled with the latest in Silicon Valley-think,'' Ceppos wrote, ''and it is not pretty. The much-ballyhooed electronic gear made these encounters mildly annoying at best. At worst, I'd rather have been logging seat time in a dentist's chair.''
This kind of comment is, if nothing else, entertaining when voiced by someone as smart, experienced and articulate as Rich Ceppos, whom I have known and respected for many years, by the way. There are probably millions of other people who think exactly the same way.
Coming from someone like Lutz, who can actually do something about it, this kind of position takes the whole technology in cars issue right onto the front burner. Indeed, GM is actively considering every bit of technology it's going to put in its new cars and reconsidering some of the stuff that's already there, and Lutz is clearly the point man on this.
Because of my nature and my job and the fact that Lutz was sitting right across the table from me asking me my opinion, I took it upon myself to question his suitability to be making such decisions.