Australian government funding fuel efficient vehicle development

The Australian government has awarded $95 million in funding to Holden and Ford to develop more fuel efficient vehicles. Ford received $47 million to improve fuel economy of its Territory SUV, while Holden received $48.3 million for power-train development, fuel economy and alternate fuels, human machine interface development and a global smart architecture and design process. The funding is expected to help both local products and help vehicles in the parent companies' global portfolios. Smaller projects were granted to Toyota and Mitsubishi. These grants are part of the Australian Government's $4.2 billion assistance package for the automotive industry, encouraging local producers to invest in research and development technologies for local and export markets. Maybe U.S. leadership could learn a thing or two about spending money wisely from the folks down under.
[Source: Carsguide.com.au]