Why Bob Lutz refused to use Corvette C7 Z06 LT4 engine in VLF Destino car

Bob Lutz has been in the car business for a very long time, employed by many major car makers such as Ford, +General Motors , +Chrysler Group LLC  and BMW.  Widely recognized as the person behind Dodge Viper, Lutz has a few other cars on his resume that in one way or another failed commercially: Holden derived Pontiac GTO, Opel derived Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky and Chevrolet EV1 (remember that one?).

As with Zora Arkus-Dantov, Bob happened to be Swiss first before becoming American but as with Zora, he is seen as a part of American car culture.  Apparently Bob refuses to enjoy his retirement and continues his four wheel ventures.

As described on this blog in the past, Bob decided to create his own car brand called first VL and now, VLF (the number of his business partners increased from two to three, courtesy of none other than Henrik Fisker).  

In the biggest irony of them all, Bob Lutz (self appointed visionary of electric vehicles entering mainstream car manufacturing)  purchased a number of electric powered Fisker Karma vehicles that Henrik Fisker included in his Fisker Motors bankruptcy proceedings and decided to convert them from their electric power train to the old fashione d ICE powered high performance GT luxury sedans.

While Bob was peddling the upcoming Destino cars (in reality, Fisker Karma bodies, with different front and rear bumpers), one of his goals was to use several +General Motors sourced supercharged engines, including LS9 and LSx powerplants used in Corvette C6 ZR1 and Camaro ZL1/Cadillac CTS-V vehicles.

The original annoucement was made back in 2013 and this blog pointed out that using the budget minded LSx engine in high end car was a bad idea.  Apparently either Bob read this blog or concluded this part on his own but as it stands, the Destino is no longer to be offered, with LSx powerplant.

But here is the very interesting part, since the original announcement, GM introduced a supposed successor to the LS9 engine, called LT4-as currently found in +Tadge Juechter led Corvette newest flagship, Corvette C7 Z06.

On the surface, Bob Lutz switching from the originally intended LS9 engine to LT4 should be a no brainer-the newest engine offers more horsepower, is supposedly more fuel efficient, more responsive and most important, considerably CHEAPER.

However, as shown at 2016 NAIAS, the renamed Fisker Karma will proceed with the LS9 engine instead of the expected LT4 "upgrade".

In its ready for sale version, VLF Destino is very heavy, weighing in at 4300 pounds, thus, adding more power would be the logical thing to do, especially considering the superior torque curve Juechter continues to brag about but apparently none of this mattered to Bob Lutz.

So what are the reasons  why Bob Lutz refused to use the newest GM engine?   According to Bob Lutz, it is all about RELIABILITY or specifically, lack of such coming from the LT4 set up.  Bob Lutz made it clear that LS9 engine is the only one he would consider BULLETPROOF, saving anticipated buyers of $220k Destino headaches currently experienced by the buyers of Corvette C7 Z06.

Certainly, the lack of confidence Bob Lutz has shown toward Juechter's team ability to create a "bulletproof" engine is quite revealing and it is even more revealing considering that the other VLF offering, Force 1 is an Aston Martin look alike re-bodied Generation 5 Dodge Viper, not only using its engine but also fortified by Arrow Engineering to add another extra 100-hp to the base 645-hp racing.

Should this lack of endorsement for Juechter and his accomplishments serve as a warning to the buyers considering purchase of LT4 equipped "certified supercars"?  Of course it should but that would require the so called "Corvette enthusiasts" to allow at least a small amount of oxygen to enter their brains (assuming optimistically they have these brains in the first place).