Some Say Focus On Green Cars Can Wait

(CBS)  Bigger isn't better in the United States. Bigger is best. We like our value meals super-sized, our Gulps double big and our millions, well, mega. And what we drive - SUVs, trucks, vans - is certainly a reflection.

"People love their SUVs," says Dr. David Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "And they love them even more when gas is less than $2 a gallon."

CEOs from the Big Three American automakers - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler - went before Congress this week asking for big money: $34 billion in emergency loans to save their ailing companies from imminent demise.

But a major sticking point for many members of Congress was whether these companies will use the money to build smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, not necessarily the immediate health of the industry.

Cole says talk of manufacturing high-mileage vehicles detracts from the true issue at hand.

"The real problem has nothing to do with clean vehicles. It has to do with credit markets," he says.

"It's like if there's an accident and you call an ambulance. You need life support to revive the patient right away," says Cole about the current financial state of GM, Ford and Chrysler. This "bridge" loan, Cole believes, would provide the necessary, if temporary, life support.

American automakers lag behind Japanese companies like Honda and Toyota in mass-producing green vehicles. (The Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid lead the hybrid market). But perhaps American carmakers have been slow to get on the green bandwagon for good reason, says Clifford Winston, an economist at the Brookings Institute. He explains it very simply - market demand.

If consumers want green vehicles, "they'll demand them," says Winston. The bulk of that limited demand so far, Winston explains, is confined to the East and West Coasts.

"People's choice of vehicle can be explained very rationally. Fuel economy may be just one of many considerations like price, carrying capacity and comfort," he says.

Over the summer the price for a gallon of gas hit its peak at $4.11. Today, it's down to $1.77, according the American Automobile Association.

So why does Congress harp on investing in green technology - a long-term issue - when the industry is facing immediate financial collapse? Politics, says University of California Santa Barbara political science professor Eric Smith.

"You're seeing a rare example of crisis politics and members of Congress are using the opportunity to extort concessions from the auto companies like investments in hybrids," he said in a phone interview.

Members of Congress, Smith says, "have to look tough on environmental issues," and they're leveraging the failures of the auto industry to channel money for long-term hybrid projects that will please their constituents. And with the auto executives beholden to Congress's checkbook for immediate aid, it works.

Adds Smith, "We can call it politics as usual."

[barbaram99]

We use mass transit,ye know the bus..I think there is way to many cars on the roads today. I am legally blind and my room mate of 25 years can''t drive due to poor health. We walk,take the bus. Oh yes use the computer to do things. I told my friend I would rather have a pc over a car. It is not smart to go in debt buying a car. The big 3 bagging congress for a bailout. If they are given the money will they use it wisely or pad their pockets. What is needed is a car that is smart to take control when the driver can''t safely drive due this/that. Is going green the answer. Learning to drive less and giving up the car is, I am aware the bus is not everywhere.

[runningralph]

There actually was a woman on these posts a few months ago that was complaining about her fuel bill. She said she lived up on the side of a mountain somewhere in California and it was costing her an arm and a leg every time she had to go into town about 30 miles away. It reminded me of all the people living below sea level in New Orleans whining about how long it took the taxpayers to bail them out.

[mike18881]

by the way, did i mention we drive a ford expedition, we also live totaly of the grid. we are totaly solar and think all these city folk useing up everything as fast as they can yelliny about green. what a joke.

[mike18881]

you know we live in south park co, i think its so funny.everybody jumped on the GREEN, then they relized that come winter they''re in trouble. try to make it up out driveway in winter, i don''t think so. a prios is ok if you live in the city, and inky have to drive a couple of blocks try having to drive 40 miles in a snow storm, in a hy-bred don''t think so.

[dbstevens]

What complete idiots these people like David Cole are. We CAN''T wait for greener cars, our planet is being totally corrupted by the stupid greed of the carmakers and of the buyers. People only want to drive big cars to feel powerful and compensate for something missing in their lives. But that''s no good excuse for continuing to make cars that suck up the planet''s resources and pollute and destroy the world. They''re also the most aggressive drivers...tailgating while trying to speed in passing lanes, cutting out in front of smaller cars...totally stupid and dangerous behavior. The time is NOW to fix the problems, and the failure of these auto companies is a great opportunity to make some BIG and IMPORTANT changes, no matter what the idiots who buy cars seem to think. People on the whole aren''t very smart and don''t make good decisions. They''ll be just as happy driving a very cool "greener" car as they are with their ridiculous SUVs. So David Cole, you can go to hell; you''re one of the people ruining this planet with your abject stupidity.

[airboatboy1]

Maybe they should start by getting rid of those salesman that stalk you like vultures and then move to the customer service departments. To me there''s nothing worse than trying to buy a vehicle and then trying to get it worked on.

[runningralph]

Now is precisely the right time to get more green. Build the wave power, solar power, geo-thermal, wind power, nuclear power, public transportation, . Move people out of the country into cities. Sooner or later OPEC will cut production and speculators will bid prices up. The only way to prevent OPEC from getting another stranglehold on the world is to conserve and convert to sustainable power generation. Increased drilling in the US is good in the short term and should be persued. Natural gas and coal should be developed. Ethanol not so much. Methods of producing energy which don''t use combustion are preferred to those that do use combustion. The energy policy of the government should be to increase all energy supplies with more incentive to sources that don''t use combustion.

[rconross]

You guys are all whacked! The problem here is not about market demand. Yes, demands go up and down. Gas price goes up, people demand more fuel efficient cars. Gas price goes down, people forget the bad times and want their big, fat gas-sucking SUVs again. Personally, I hate them. The issue is what we can do to reduce our dependence on foreign oil - specifically, mideast oil. I say, take away their market, and you win the war with the terrorists. So, why don''t we let the big three go under, file for bankruptcy, they become more leaner and efficient, the UAW takes a big hit (yahoo!) and Detroit starts to make a better, greener, more fuel efficient car than Toyota. Everyone wins. Japan starts selling off its investments in the US. We own our country again! People...it can be done.

[rru2s]

You are neglecting the cyclical increasing nature of oil prices.

One of the major reasons consumers were reluctant to spend money during late summer and early fall was that their gas budget was taking a bigger bite out of their disposable income.

And the rural states are generally full of folks too short-sited to plan for their future -- they just buy the mega-SUV or truck when times are good and then when times are bad they complain they have no money.

Government could help this. And could also help to greatly slow the rate of depletion of oil reserves, which will cause a calamatous collapse of modern society if we hit the ground too hard.

This is NOT about politics. It is about our future and our children''s future. How quickly we forget once the prices drop for a few weeks.

[fredflinsto2]

Of course it can wait. Everytime the price of gas gets high enough to give thought to cars that don''t run on gas, the oil companies cut the price to take consideration away from that idea. Then they raise it again after a few years, then they cut the price so all the idiots buy gas gussling school buses, then they raise it, then they cut it. It is all about manipulating the consumer sheeple