Auto Industry Chiefs Talk Alternative Fuel in Washington

May 18, 2006

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May 18, 2006

The heads of the major U.S. automakers are on Capitol Hill talking about the future of building cars that use alternative fuels.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Executives from the major U.S. car companies are on Capitol Hill today. The CEOs of GM, Ford, and Chrysler, are expected to discuss their pension and healthcare costs. They also want help in expanding the number of ethanol fueling stations.

NPR's Jack Speer reports.

JACK SPEER reporting:

At a time domestic automakers are laying off tens of thousands of workers and closing plants, industry executives have been careful to stress they are not seeking a bailout.

Speaking at the National Press Club yesterday, Mark LaNeve, GM's VP of Sales and Marketing for North America, acknowledged some of the automakers' woes were of their own making, but said the idea U.S. car companies don't matter is wrong.

Mr. MARK LANEVE (Vice President of Sales and Marketing for North America, General Motors): GM's vehicle production activities support 1.1 million American jobs. For every 100 units that we lose to foreign imports, a net 11 American jobs are lost.

SPEER: Auto executives are also expected to discuss the need for use of more ethanol-based fuels like E85, something LaNeve says would help move the nation towards greater energy independence.

Mr. LANEVE: There are 170,000 gas stations in the U.S. We would only need about 12,000, or 6 percent of them, to have an ethanol pump--to have ethanol availability within two miles of every major city and every stretch of our interstate highway system.

SPEER: Currently, only 600 U.S. gas stations can handle ethanol. The automakers want incentives in the form of federal subsidies to get more.

The CEOs were originally scheduled to meet with President Bush; however that meeting has been postponed until next month.

Jack Speer, NPR News, Washington.

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