LA Auto Show Dripping With Greenwash - SF Chronicle

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One quick look at this big auto show - more than 1,000 cars from nearly 50 automakers - and you'd think the age of oil had disappeared and been replaced by the wondrous new era of whisper-quiet cars powered by ethanol, electricity, fuel cells, clean diesel, and, perhaps, a hybrid of some or an amalgam of all. Not quite, but it was clear from a couple of days at the sprawling convention center that this was the automakers' message to the world. It's time for a change, time to work on the future. Not a new message exactly, but one they were certainly drumming home.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- he of Hummer and Harley fame -- appeared before the 4,000 journalists from all over the world Thursday morning and orchestrated the unveiling of five eco-friendly cars from Honda, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Chevrolet and the Bay Area's nascent Tesla Motors (the superfast, super-expensive, all-electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise).

"We challenged the car companies to innovate, to think beyond gasoline and to deliver cleaner, more-efficient cars," Schwarzenegger said. "These cars are the future of the automobile industry, and I know that they are the future for California because we have taken the lead in environmental protection and promoting alternative fuels."

A day earlier, Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of General Motors, made an equally eco-friendly speech, pointing out that "it is highly unlikely that oil alone is going to supply all the world's rapidly growing automotive energy requirements," and adding that GM is exploring all the options that nearly every other automaker is exploring. He conceded that gasoline and diesel will "continue to be the principal automotive fuel source for some time" -- viz. the first car you run into at the auto show's Cadillac exhibit, after the lavender convertible, was a $46,045 Cadillac SRX SUV that gets 16 and 24 mpg. And the SUV near it, an Escalade, gets 13 and 20.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/03/MTGRVMNRMS1.DTL