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11-16-2006, 09:48 PM
Instead of building vehicles that can compete in the marketplace, the auto industry is asking for more incentives ... ( http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1114-12.htm)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Hanging_Rope.jpgJosh Dorner - Sierra Club - Nov. 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - As President Bush is scheduled to meet with the CEOS of General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrylser, the Sierra Club issued the following statement from Daniel Becker, Director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming program.
"Instead of focusing on innovation and 21st century vehicles, American auto industry executives are today asking the Bush administration for more rope with which to hang themselves. Today's meeting of the Big Three automaker executives with President Bush is an effort to blame others for Detroit's woes and to propose false solutions. The unseen elephant in the room is the failure of the auto industry to produce more fuel efficient vehicles since the last major increase in fuel economy standards in the 1980's. Unless the industry modernizes, they will continue to lose sales to foreign automakers resulting in lost jobs and income and more closed plants.
"Much of the Big Three's failure to compete in the marketplace is the result of its refusal to build more fuel-efficient vehicles at a time when Toyota and Honda have led the industry. Instead of building vehicles that can compete in the marketplace, the auto industry is asking for more incentives for flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) and hydrogen. Yet, even the President's own Department of Energy acknowledges that 99 percent of the time, FFVs don't run on ethanol.
"The auto industry likes to say that what you drive says a lot about you. In this case, it rings true. The CEOs of General Motors and Ford Motor Company are arriving at the White House in their company's best hybrid vehicles. But sadly, neither of these vehicles comes close to the fuel economy of Toyota and Honda's best hybrids, which also happen to have the highest sales. In General Motors' case, their first hybrid vehicle came on the market nearly 8 years after the first hybrid was sold in the United States; and DaimlerChrysler still doesn't make one.
"The Big Three have become technology laggards because for more than 25 years, they have been protected from higher fuel economy standards. They failed to invest in better technology while their competitors brought the next generation of vehicles to the market. America's oil addiction, more global warming pollution and the industry's current crisis are the direct result of the Big 3's failure to innovate.
"Making new cars and trucks go farther on a gallon of gas is the biggest single step we can take to saving money at the gas pump, curbing global warming, and cutting America's oil dependence. It is also the key to returning the American auto industry to profitability. The technology exists today to make all new vehicles - from sedans to pickups to SUVs - average 40 miles per gallon within ten years. This is auto mechanics, not rocket science. Taking this step would save four million barrels of oil per day - that's more oil than we currently import from the entire Persian Gulf and could ever get out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, combined. If the automakers do their job and improve fuel economy, the U.S. can help them. The U.S. can provide health care assistance along with incentives to retrofit existing plants to build the next generation of clean vehicles and at the same time help consumers purchase these vehicles.
"It is time for President Bush to stop enabling the auto industry's bad decisions and start raising standards that will spur innovation, provide energy security, protect the environment, and save American jobs. The clock is ticking on the Big 3, if they fail to innovate, the will likely fail to exist."
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Hanging_Rope.jpgJosh Dorner - Sierra Club - Nov. 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - As President Bush is scheduled to meet with the CEOS of General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrylser, the Sierra Club issued the following statement from Daniel Becker, Director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming program.
"Instead of focusing on innovation and 21st century vehicles, American auto industry executives are today asking the Bush administration for more rope with which to hang themselves. Today's meeting of the Big Three automaker executives with President Bush is an effort to blame others for Detroit's woes and to propose false solutions. The unseen elephant in the room is the failure of the auto industry to produce more fuel efficient vehicles since the last major increase in fuel economy standards in the 1980's. Unless the industry modernizes, they will continue to lose sales to foreign automakers resulting in lost jobs and income and more closed plants.
"Much of the Big Three's failure to compete in the marketplace is the result of its refusal to build more fuel-efficient vehicles at a time when Toyota and Honda have led the industry. Instead of building vehicles that can compete in the marketplace, the auto industry is asking for more incentives for flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) and hydrogen. Yet, even the President's own Department of Energy acknowledges that 99 percent of the time, FFVs don't run on ethanol.
"The auto industry likes to say that what you drive says a lot about you. In this case, it rings true. The CEOs of General Motors and Ford Motor Company are arriving at the White House in their company's best hybrid vehicles. But sadly, neither of these vehicles comes close to the fuel economy of Toyota and Honda's best hybrids, which also happen to have the highest sales. In General Motors' case, their first hybrid vehicle came on the market nearly 8 years after the first hybrid was sold in the United States; and DaimlerChrysler still doesn't make one.
"The Big Three have become technology laggards because for more than 25 years, they have been protected from higher fuel economy standards. They failed to invest in better technology while their competitors brought the next generation of vehicles to the market. America's oil addiction, more global warming pollution and the industry's current crisis are the direct result of the Big 3's failure to innovate.
"Making new cars and trucks go farther on a gallon of gas is the biggest single step we can take to saving money at the gas pump, curbing global warming, and cutting America's oil dependence. It is also the key to returning the American auto industry to profitability. The technology exists today to make all new vehicles - from sedans to pickups to SUVs - average 40 miles per gallon within ten years. This is auto mechanics, not rocket science. Taking this step would save four million barrels of oil per day - that's more oil than we currently import from the entire Persian Gulf and could ever get out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, combined. If the automakers do their job and improve fuel economy, the U.S. can help them. The U.S. can provide health care assistance along with incentives to retrofit existing plants to build the next generation of clean vehicles and at the same time help consumers purchase these vehicles.
"It is time for President Bush to stop enabling the auto industry's bad decisions and start raising standards that will spur innovation, provide energy security, protect the environment, and save American jobs. The clock is ticking on the Big 3, if they fail to innovate, the will likely fail to exist."