This is the week of the North American Auto Show in Detroit, invariably a good week for automaking industry, even the domestic Big Three. Never mind the past year or so of bad and worse news from Chrysler, Ford, and GM; this one week in January is a time when they can control the message and deliver ideas they want investors and buyers to hear: new designs, new products, new ideas.

So why, I am wondering, would GM global product chief Bob Lutz let it be known that his company doesn’t plan to try to regain the title of “world’s largest automaker”?

"Good product quality, the company's image and the profit for shareholders are more important goals than the top position in volume," Lutz told an interviewer.

I suppose such a question, once asked, must be answered. Perhaps the investment community doesn’t want to hear that GM is planning to spend any money until it regains profitability. Possibly the GM dealers and interested buyers would rather hear that product quality is more important than market dominance.

But still, after all the bad news and poor press it has received in the past year, why should GM let anyone conclude that it is conceding anything? More to the point, if GM can’t stick to its message for one week of the year when all its interested listeners are seeking a glimpse of their future plans, what more unsettling information is it holding back?