“The problem with you guys in the press is that you never take affordability in consideration,” scolded Lutz. “Both the Lightning and Viper-engined Dodge are so expensive that they go to a very restricted number of people. We can price the Silverado SS where we get a lot of customers.”

“As much as a performance man as I am, I just don’t think that extreme-type performance pickups really move the needle with the pickup buyer,” added Lutz. “I think the pickup buyer wants a lot of standard torque and horsepower and a great handling vehicle at an affordable price.”

I am a big fan of Bot Lutz, I thought he was going to take GM to greater heights, untill I read this quote from him at SEMA. Looks like the SRT-10 and L killers will have to be left up to the aftermarket and us guys with immagination.

 

they need to make one of those extremes with the new ls2's i saw on here earlier you could price that thing for 35 k and still make a killing on it it would be the same as a fully loaded 25k model with a 10k speed package and i know it doesnt cost gm that much for the motor and when everybody starts to buy em and see how kick **** they are they can upgrade the price after they have a following

 

What kills me is that all of the parts to make an L/SRT-type performance truck are in GM's parts bins already. It could easily be done for the same price as the current SS:

LQ9 and 4L80-e or T-56

That's it. It wouldn't KILL the Dodge or Ford offerings, but it would be a helluva lot less expensive and as we all know would respond well to mods. It's so simple it's pathetic.

 

I have no faith in gm at all as far as bringing us performance vehicles. ive been a subscriber to gm high tech longer than i can remember and each month they show all these vehicles that gm assures them will make it to production but maybe with 20% less power, and do they ever make it?? heck no. only thing that has made it was the gto and that lousy ssr-the ugliest truck next to an 80's model dodge. supposedly camaros and firebirds werent selling good enough-?in what part of the country? people were buying em left and right around here. sorry guys, just on my soap box

 

I like Bob Lutz, but this is complete BS. How much money would it cost to put an already smog certified 6.0 in a RCSB 2wd truck. If you kept the luxury items down, you should be able to sell them for about $25,000. They probably wouldn't be able to make enough of them. Save that crap for the tourists Mr. Lutz, you could make a real performance truck if you wanted to.

Bruce

 

GM does not have the ***** to build a truck to compete with the L,or SRT10
Like it was said in this Thread everything is already on shelf at GM.
It could be a low cost truck with no options and sell like Hell,
but it takes ***** to deal with Insurance companies, if there could be a clause
on your insurance about wearing a seat belt, there would be no seat belt law!

 

at least they could offer the LQ9 with the 4L65E as a special order option. i'd be happy with that.

 

the Lightning is expensive . . . compared to what?
SSS is 40ish, L is less than that
did I miss something?

 

You're comparing an EC with AWD and factory 20's to a SC 2WD. And the L's were still in the 30's new.

 

Who the hell wants to tow their ski boat AND THEIR FAIMLY to the lake on a nice weekend in an lightning or SRT/10?

Although I don't like what he said he does make perfect sense. The SRT/10 is way too expensive for what it is an pretty impractical and won't sell a ton of them. What I consider it to be is a lost leader. It's an advertising gimmick. They get to say they have the fastest production truck and therefore people think fast when they think Dodge so in essense more regular Dodge trucks get sold.

On the otherhand:

CHevy does the SS which is overpriced and too slow and generally gets ridiculed and IMO gives Chevy kind of a bad name. So where's the smarts in that? LOL