[PERSONAL OPINION]
Personally, I'm hoping to see an influx of enthusiasm into GM from him. I've never met him and know nothing more about him than what I've read in the media, but based upon that, he sounds like a an enthusiastic car guy who loves to take a few risks and try new ideas. I think some of the platforms need that. In all honesty, other than the Y and F-body platforms, there isn't anything else currently produced by GM (other than maybe the Cadillac), that grabs my attention and makes me say...."now that is a nice car".
In some ways, it's been like this for me for a few years now. Although I've always been "Corvette Proud", I also used to be "Bowtie Proud". Some of that pride waned over the years due to quality and design issues that I experienced with some of the other platforms. In a lot of ways, this can be seen in my purchase of a new '98 Ford F150 pickup back in '98.
Before then, I would never have beem caught dead behind the wheel of a Ford product. But the first thing that caught my eye was the design of the Flareside model with that cool Tonka-Truck look and then the reviews started coming in about how great a truck it was as opposed to the competition. It took me a few months of going back and forth to the Chevy and Ford dealers before I made my decision, but at the time, Chevy's trucks were just not......"inspiring" me if you will. To this day, I never regretted my purchase decision.
Well.....I want to be "inspired" again. I want to see some cool design changes across the platforms. Instead of reading about how great European automotive quality and reliability is, I want to read how great GM quality and reliability is.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not slamming GM here. They are the largest automotive manufacturer in the world and after reading All Corvettes Are Red from James Schefter, I have a much greater appreciation for how they are able to actually do what they do given their corporate size. But like all large corporations...the air within the building sometimes starts to stagnate and it takes a strong willed, excited, enthusiastic visionary to instill fresh air, new ideas and new ways of doing things to wake everyone up in that building and clear the air. I'm hoping that Bob Lutz is that man.
[END PERSONAL OPINION]