Bob Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors, is a blogger. Earlier this week, Lutz’s comments began appearing on FastLane, “your source for the latest, greatest musings of GM leaders on topics relevant to the company, the industry and the global economy, and—most of all—to our customers and other car enthusiasts.” FastCompany, which reported the blog’s appearance, notes that it’s remarkable in its candor even if the blog’s domain (fastlane.gmblogs.com) is registered to the company’s PR agency.

For example, a post today from Lutz responds to a comment (there are a lot of comments on this blog) about the flat interior designs of many GM cars. The comment points to dashboard designs for Honda and Acura. Lutz replies, “I would admit that the Accord has a great interior, as does Acura. But we’re talking much higher prices there. When the G-6 4-cylinder versions come out, you’ll see a substantial price difference in our favor to Accord.”

Talk about a company interacting directly with the customer! Lutz kicked off his post with an introduction:

“After years of reading and reacting to the automotive press, I finally get to put the shoe on the other foot. In the age of the Internet, anybody can be a ???journalist.??? This is the first of many commentaries I will make on this forum, and I???d like to begin with, surprise, some product talk ??? specifically, Saturn products.”

In addition to direct posts to the blog, Lutz is including speeches he’s delivered, such as one on managing change presented at the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

FastLane isn’t the first GM blog. I’ve reported here before about the Smallblock Engine Blog, which is still going strong. But seeing somebody at Lutz’s level in a company of GM’s size make the leap into blogging is a heartening experience. All those who questioned CEO-type blogs—or dismissed them as being mainly for high-tech companies—will have to give a second look at the notion of bloggin as a means of establishing a connection to the customer.

The connection is all that much stronger because (as FastCompany notes), the powers that be at GM are not only allowing harsh comments from readers, but thanking readers for them.