8 August 2001: There's hope for us all when the world's biggest carmaker hires a 69-year-old to rebuild its image and the cars it will produce in the future.

But that's just what General Motors has done, hiring former Chrysler whizz-'kid' Bob Lutz on a three-year contract as vice chairman for product development.

Lutz is credited with Chrysler's 'second revival' in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He helped develop the Dodge Ram, Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler and turned the smallest of the Big Three US carmakers into the industry's most profitable company prior to its 1998 merger with Daimler-Benz.

Lutz has worked with four major carmakers in his working life so far. He joined Chrysler in 1986, became president in 1991 and was named vice chairman in December 1996. He left Chrysler in July 1998 during the takeover by Daimler-Benz. Previously Lutz spent 12 years at Ford, where he was executive vice president of truck operations. He has also served as chairman of Ford of Europe and executive vice president of Ford Motor Company's international operations. Lutz started his automotive career at GM in 1963 where he held a variety of senior positions in Europe. Later, he served three years as executive vice president of sales at BMW.

A former Marine Corps fighter pilot, Lutz is known as blunt, confrontational, egocentric and publicity-hungry. He is expected to question conventional wisdom at GM and has been expressly hired to 'make some waves'. He replaces 56-year-old Tom Davis, group vice president for product development, who will retire early next year. BB