Robert Anthony Lutz (born February 12, 1932) is a Swiss American automotive executive. He served as a top leader of all of the United States Big Three automobile manufacturers, having been in succession executive vice president (and board member) of Ford Motor Company, president and then vice chairman (and board member) of Chrysler Corporation, and vice chairman of General Motors. Early life Lutz was born in Zürich, Switzerland, the son of Margaret and Robert Harry Lutz. His father was a vice chairman of Credit Suisse. Lutz left Switzerland at the age of seven and spent time in Scarsdale, New York, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1943, and returned to Switzerland in 1947 to attend school in Lausanne. He is fluent in English, Swiss German, German, French and has a modest fluency in Italian. Lutz received a bachelor's degree in production management in 1961, followed by an MBA with a concentration in marketing with highest honors in 1962, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned the latter when he was flying in the United States Marine Corps Reserve's 4th Marine Aircraft Wing and supporting two of four young daughters by selling vacuum cleaners in Walnut Creek, California. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Law from Boston University in 1985, and an honorary degree of Doctor of Management from Kettering University in 2003. He is a trustee of the Marine Corps University Foundation and the Marine Military Academy. Professional career After leaving the Marines, Lutz spent eight years with GM Opel in Europe before joining BMW serving as executive vice president of sales at BMW for three years. He takes some credit in the development of the BMW 3 Series as well as their Motorsport division. Lutz was also an executive vice president at Ford Motor Company. At Ford of Europe, he led the creation of the Ford Escort III, and Ford Sierra, and upon returning to the US in 1985, initiated development of the original Ford Explorer, and was a member of Ford's board of directors. He was a frequent internal political rival of eventual Ford CEO Red Poling. Lutz became head of Chrysler Corporation's Global Product Development, including the successful Dodge Viper and LH series cars. Former Chrysler chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca, who helped steer the company back to profitability after receiving loans from private banks backed by the U.S. Government in 1979, said he should