The Elegance at Hershey is pleased to announce that the Honorary Chairman for its 2014 weekend of charitable events will be noted automotive executive, author, entrepreneur and “car guy” Robert “Bob” Lutz.
Lutz began his automotive career in September 1963 at GM, where he held a variety of senior sales and marketing positions in Europe until December 1971. For the next three years, he served as executive vice president of global sales and marketing at BMW in Munich and as a member of that company’s board of management.
From 1974 until 1986, Lutz held a variety of positions at Ford Motor Company. His last position was executive vice president of truck operations. He also served as chairman of Ford of Europe, and as executive vice president of Ford’s international operations. From 1982 to 1986, Lutz was a member of Ford’s board.
Lutz joined Chrysler in 1986 as executive vice president, and was shortly thereafter elected to the Chrysler Corporation board. Prior to rejoining GM as vice chairman in September 2001, Lutz was chairman and chief executive officer of Exide Technologies. He served as chairman until his resignation on May 17, 2002, and as a member of Exide’s board of directors until May 5, 2004.
Lutz rejoined GM as vice chairman of product development. On November 13, 2001, he was named chairman of GM North America and served in that capacity until April 4, 2005, when he assumed responsibility for Global Product Development. He also served as president of GM Europe on an interim basis from March to June 2004. On April 1, 2009, Lutz was named vice chairman and senior advisor providing strategic input into GM’s global design and key product initiatives, a position he would hold until retirement at the end of 2009. On July 23, 2009, he was appointed vice chairman, marketing and communications, and on December 4, 2009, he was named vice chairman, specially assigned to advise on design and global product development.
While Lutz certainly has had an illustrious career filled with many achievements, he is also a serious car enthusiast with a very interesting collection of vehicles. The cars run the gamut from Cunningham coupes to a Monteverdi. Sprinkle in a couple of jet fighters and you have some serious horsepower in the Lutz stable. According to Elegance organizers, “Having an honorary chairman who has had a life-long love affair with cars and who is known to have strong views on automotive styling makes Bob the perfect person to preside over one of the most elegant shows in the country.”
