GM product chief Bob Lutz to retire

GM boss Bob Lutz Retires By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 09 February 2009 17:41 GM boss Bob Lutz will retire at the end of the year. The vice chairman of global product development – who has been at the centre of the automotive industry for the last 46 years – will be replaced by Tom Stephens, GM’s current veepee for global powertrain and global quality. Lutz, 76, will continue to report to GM boss Rick Wagoner throughout 2009 in his new role as GM vice chairman and senior advisor, before bowing out at the end of December.

UK Car Sales up again in November (2012)

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has revealed that new car sales grew again in the UK in November – up by 11.3 per cent. At some point, new car sales in the UK must surely start to ease as the economic pressure bite, but so far in 2012 we’ve had an inexorable rise in numbers. The latest figures for November show new car sales (well, to be precise, new car registrations – which include Pre-Reg cars) up by an impressive 11.3 per cent, following on from a rise of 12.1 per cent in October, with private buyers driving sales rather than fleet.

Kia Pro_Cee’d GT Turbo teased

The Kia Pro Cee’d GT – complete with the 1.6 litre petrol turbo from the Veloster with 200bhp – is being teased by Kia. We reported last month that Kia are planning to put the 200bhp, 1.6 litre Turbo from the Hyundai Veloster in to the new Pro_cee’d three door to create a hot little coupe, and now Kia has caught up with that news with the first tease for the Pro_cee’d GT. It’s probably best to take the teaser photo of the Pro_cee’d GT with a pinch of salt – it’s a typically extreme rendering of the car we’ll actually get – but it does demonstrate that Kia want to differentiate the Pro_cee’d GT from the more prosaic models.