Obama: U.S. needs to show automakers a real market for 'hybrids'
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington BureauWashington — President Barack Obama said the United States needs to show the auto industry that Americans want more fuel-efficient vehicles.
"If we're serious about making the transition from gas-guzzlers to hybrids, we need to show automakers that there's a real market for these vehicles," Obama said at an appearance in Landover, Md., to tout "green" vehicle fleets. "We need to show them that if they manufacture fuel efficient cars and trucks, people will buy them. We need to put our money where our mouth is."
He noted that General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are both building clean vehicles for large commercial fleets. "They're not going to build them if they don't think anybody's going to buy them," Obama said.
After a decade of sales, hybrids still account for less than 2.5 percent of all U.S. auto sales, and half of those are a single vehicle — the Toyota Prius.
Sales of GM's extended-range Chevrolet Volt and all-electric Nissan Leaf remain small. About 1,200 Volts and 500 Leaf vehicles have been sold in the first three months of the year.
Obama said the federal government — which has 600,000 vehicles — will be buying all "advanced technology" vehicles by 2015.
"This is one place where the government is leading by example," Obama said. "Right now, the government's fleet includes more than 600,000 vehicles, making it the single largest fleet in America. That means we have considerable purchasing power, and we're using it to boost clean energy technologies."
Those vehicles include plug-in vehicles and hybrids, but they also include millions of "flex fuel" vehicles that can run on either gasoline or mostly ethanol, called E85. So the government can continue to buy full-size inefficient SUVs and run them on regular gasoline blends under the policy.
Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufactures, the trade association representing General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, said the government should help encourage consumers to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. She praised the president for vowing to buy more fuel efficient vehicles for the federal fleet. "It's not a question of technology, it's a question of demand," she said.
During his speech, Obama praised companies for buying more fuel efficient vehicles like UPS, FedEx, AT&T, Verizon, and PepsiCo from automakers.
"These companies are leading the way when it comes to building clean fleets, and we need to make sure all our businesses are following their example," he said "I'm challenging you to replace your old fleet with a clean energy fleet that's not only good for your bottom line, but good for our economy, good for our country, and good for our planet."
Obama didn't announce any new money to defray the cost of purchasing more expensive green vehicles.
Obama also reiterated a call he made in his budget to turn a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles into a point-of-purchase rebate.
dshepardson@detnews.com
(202) 662-8735
From The Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20110401/AUTO01/104010433/Obama--U.S.-needs-to-show-automakers-a-real-market-for-‘hybrids’#ixzz1IMqttjp4
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Ok, are you obama fans convinced yet at when the rest of us say he is the most incompetent, illiterate, ignorant, idiotic, and stupid than this fool?
I want to see his college records - I am convinced he has never taken an economics course in his entire life. There simply is no way an "educated" person can be this dumb.
