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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Motor City Going for Green

Automakers blame environmental concerns for falling sales

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(Newser) – Auto industry bigwigs at the Reuters Auto Summit in Detroit this week seem finally to have gotten the message on cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles; one after another they cited going green (or at least greener) as the path to more competitive cars and trucks. GM honcho Robert Lutz admitted that the Prius helped Toyota get a jump on GM while his company was busy building guzzlers like the Hummer.

"People buy Toyota because it is seen as the sane and responsible thing to do," Lutz said. GM  plans to introduce a dozen hybrid cars over the next three years. It hopes to have the Chevy Volt, a mass-market electric car, ready by 2010. "We have to re-establish GM's leadership, and the Volt is, frankly, an effort to leapfrog anything that is done by any other competitor," Lutz said.

A Toyota Prius hybrid compact car is exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, east of Tokyo, in this Oct. 19, 2005 file photo. The Prius, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in December, 2007, was born out of a fiercely emotional battle among ambitious engineers. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, FILE)
A Toyota Prius hybrid compact car is exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, east of Tokyo, in this Oct. 19, 2005 file photo. The Prius, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in December, 2007,...   (Associated Press)
Chris Whitt, team leader for Mississippi State University, shows off the Challenge X first place team trophy, Thursday, June 7, 2007 in Detroit, Mich. The Challenge X college engineering competition requires that teams re-engineer Chevrolet Equinox vehicles to utilize hybrid configurations, fuel cells, ethanol and biofuels. (AP Photo/General Motors, Roy...
Chris Whitt, team leader for Mississippi State University, shows off the Challenge X first place team trophy, Thursday, June 7, 2007 in Detroit, Mich. The Challenge X college engineering competition requires...   (Associated Press)
In this photo provided by General Motors, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) gets a tour of the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle from General Motors Executive Director Energy, Environment and Safety Al Weverstad at the Los Angeles Auto Show Thursday, November 15, 2007 in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger held a press conference...
In this photo provided by General Motors, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) gets a tour of the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle from General Motors Executive Director Energy, Environment...   (Associated Press)
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