Autoblog

In the wake of GM's Tuesday press conference detailing its plans to have enough cash on hand through 2009, politicians have been eager to voice their thoughts regarding the possibility of a government bailout. President Bush gave the possibility a strong no, but the two guys in line for his job have taken a different route.

Senator Obama has said that he supports automaker's attempts to restructure without outside help, but says he's willing to work with the companies on fuel saving tech. Republican Senator John McCain took an even stronger pro-automaker stance, saying "if it looks like it is approaching that, everyone has to consider every option." The Arizona Senator and presumed Republican nominee has stated in the past that he wouldn't support a buyout, but would instead provide tax breaks and infrastructure support to create more fuel efficient vehicles. McCain's "every option" comment may not sit well with his party, but it could sound good to Detroit automakers. McCain is visiting the GM tech center today. Both presidential candidates are working hard to woo Michigan voters, which will be a key state to win in the November election. Even though GM has stated it isn't looking for a handout, Michigan residents would love to know that the automaker would get one if it really needed it.

[Source: CNN Money, Image: Getty/Bill Pugliano]

This morning President Bush put pen to paper (no doubt one of those really cool American President pens) and signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, all 822 pages of it. As we all know by now, the pillar of the law is an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The increases will be built up over time beginning with the 2011 model year, which really isn't that far away. The measures regarding CAFE also don't apply fleetwide as one single standard, but will be adjusted based on the type of car or truck being measured. Nevertheless, after decades of nary a budge in this country's CAFE standards, an increase of some 40% is monumental and will likely begin immediately affecting the cars and trucks we buy.

We mustn't forget the path fraught with peril that this bill took to reach the President's desk. After being passed by the House of Representatives thanks to a compromise between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the bill moved to the Senate where it was voted on twice and failed before a large $21.8 billion tax provision was removed. Until that point, the President had promised to veto the bill. Without the tax provision, however, the bill was finally passed by the Senate, and then reapproved by the House just yesterday.

In order to meet the standards, we expect automakers to begin producing more mild hybrids in the near future, with full-on parallel hybrids being at least an option on most vehicles after that. The use of modern clean-diesel engines will also proliferate, especially in light-duty half-ton trucks like the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado that would have trouble meeting their own CAFE targets with traditional V8 engines. Then there's more exotic technology, like the series hybrid system being developed by GM for the Chevy Volt. If successful, expect other automakers to very quickly follow suit with their own series hybrid drivetrains. There's lots of simple and more complex technologies on the table that automakers will utilize to increase their CAFE rating, and no doubt the cost of developing these systems will be passed on to the consumer to some degree, as well. Supporters of the bill, however, remind us that reducing our dependance on foreign oil is a very good thing, and in the end, we only get one Earth on which to live.

[Source: The Detroit News, Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty]

It's nice to be back in the swing of things. We're once again cranking out weekly podcasts, and #63 is a compact one. We start off salivating over the news that the next generation Suzuki Swift will be headed for US shores. We devolve from discussing an unsubstantiated rumor into wistful praise for the current can't have it Swift, and even make mention of Swifts from nigh on twenty years ago. The dustup over Alan Mulally's work of fiction at the New York Auto Show keynote draws our ire next. This one has it all, lies, grandstanding media with agendas, attacks, grandstanding media with agendas, misinformation, grandstanding media with agendas, disinformation, and finally, grandstanding media with agendas. Speaking of grandstanding, we nearly go as far as calling Lutz's bluff on the announcement that the hotly anticipated RWD cars from GM are on hold 'till regulators get their shizzle together. Whatevs. The entire GM turnaround is on hold? Not bloody likely. The consensus we come to is: Bad Lutz. So, turn on, tune in and peel out for our latest slice of podcast goodness.

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Allan Mulally has already lived a very successful life, having helped save American icon Boeing, then taking over the reigns as Ford Motor Company's Chief Executive Officer. Now he has added 'the guy that saved President Bush' to the list. Mr. Mulally used his media audience at the New York Auto Show to tell a pretty great story about his recent trip to the White House.

Ford Motor wanted to give President Bush a first-hand look at their hydrogen electric plug-in hybrid, so the company arranged to have a demonstration of the uber-tech Ford Edge right from the White House lawn. When walking with the President towards the vehicle, Mulally noticed that the extension cord was placed to the rear of the car, where the Hydrogen fuel tank resides, instead of the side of the car. As Mulally saw the President approach the rear of the car, he decided that he should physically grab the president and "make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen."

We obviously don't know for sure whether or not the leader of the free world would have stuck an electrified cord into the Edge's Darwin-hole, but we do think it was a damn good idea Mulally stepped in to make sure Mr. Bush did the right thing. We don't think Ford's green initiative would have been able to recover if the company's best and brightest technology fried the President. Then again, given the approval numbers of Mr. Bush... we kid, we kid.

Thanks for the tip Chris!

[Source: Detroit News via Think Progress]

Admittedly, we're a little late to the party on this one, but thankfully, our greener sibling site was on top of things when the Supreme Court made an important ruling yesterday regarding the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement of the Clean Air Act.

The ruling revolves around the regulation of carbon dioxide, classifying it as a pollutant and, more specifically, a greenhouse gas. Considering that this is the first case involving global warming, the 5-4 ruling was a major blow to the current administration's opposition of mandatory controls on emissions.

Some of the quotes from the court are worth a read (click here for AutoblogGreen's post), but in the end, it's not the court's place to make regulations, only uphold them. As such, the EPA has to make changes to the existing law and/or uphold current regulations. However, don't expect anything to change until later this decade, if and when the Executive Branch has a shift in its policy towards global climate change.

[Source: Reuters via AutoblogGreen]

President Bush will be addressing his first State of the Union to a Democratic-controlled Congress in about a half hour. At that time, many people in the country will be in a bad mood because their favorite TV show on Tuesday night was just preempted. Many will change the channel to watch something on cable, but some will stay to watch the president speak, and energy is one topic that will surely be discussed.

We already know what he's going to talk about because Joel Kaplan, the White House deputy chief of staff (that would be Josh Lyman's position) told us today. The big, bold move Bush will make on energy tonight will be to call for Americans to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent by 2017. A fine idea for sure, though the new Congress will disagree with President Bush on how to achieve the goal.

The administration basically has a two-pronged strategy. The first is a new mandate proposing we increase the amount of alternative fuels blended into the national fuel supply to 35 billion gallons by 2017. These fuels would now also include biodiesel, methanol, butanol and hydrogen, in addition the politically popular ethanol. The second strategy is to further revise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards by applying the same revisions to mileage standards used recently on trucks to passenger vehicles. This is where the President and the new Democratic-controlled congress will likely butt heads the most. The Dems simply want to raise CAFE standards for passenger vehicles from the current 27.5 miles per gallon, while the administration's sliding scale applies different standards based on a vehicle's footprint or size. It's all very technical and boring, which is what we imagine the SOTU address will be tonight, but we'll watch anyways 'cause the Commander in Chief's gonna talk about cars, and we're always up for some car talk.

Feel free to post your thoughts on the SOTU in the comments, but keep it civil or we'll have to turn the comments off on this post. Thanks.

[Source: AP]

It's official. We have lost count how many times the Bush administration has setup, canceled, rescheduled, canceled, postponed and told the big two-point-five that they'll call, then never do.

Well, the newest round of "Date the leader of the free world" is coming around again and the word is that the heads of Washington are planning a meeting after the November elections. Why this impromptu quick fix? It seems that Bush is due to address some GOP constituents in Detroit this Friday and failed to send out valentines to the heads of Ford, GM or DaimlerChrysler.

When it happens we'll believe it and as Inside Line put it, "If Bush has time to meet with the American Idol contestants, he'd better make some time for one of the nation's most crucial industries." Well-said nameless Edmunds' writer, well-said.

[Source: Inside Line]

The much ballyhooed meeting between domestic auto industry leaders and U.S. lawmakers came and went today, with the net-net being that the Capitol gang has pledged to work with the manufacturers 'as partners.'

Rick Wagoner (General Motors Chair and CEO), Tom LaSorda (DaimlerChrysler President and CEO) and Bill Ford (Ford Chairman and CEO) met with a pool of congressmen to discuss such issues as expanding ethanol's availability, pension policy restructuring, trade imbalances, and health care costs, but if any specific initiatives or resolutions from Thursday's meetings were reached, none have been made public.

[Source: The Associated Press]

Much hay has been made of President Bush’s statement that the U.S. is addicted to oil during the State of the Union address. Bush also managed to slip in a little mention of Switch Grass, a native grass of this continent that could be used for making fuel much like corn is used to produce ethanol.

We caught an NPR piece on the radio about Switch Grass in which one David Bransby, a Professor of Energy Crops at Auburn University, explains what makes the grass so special. Tree Hugger has lifted the finer points of the interview and posted them here.

Some interesting details about Switch Grass are that its very hearty and can grow in diverse climates, it has a very high yield per acre with little use of pesticides and its production costs are low. Because the whole plant is used in producing ethanol, Switch Grass can also net up to 100 gallons of fuel per ton, which is better than that of corn.