American auto manufacturers fight to take part in alternative fuel market

MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Car manufacturers are lined up this week at the Chicago Auto Show to promise alternative-energy vehicles that will reduce carbon footprints. With massive losses posted by American manufacturers in 2007, the Big Three are incorporating alternative energy products into their fleets in an attempt to catch up to international manufacturers.

Hybrid car sales rose roughly 38 percent between 2006 and 2007, from 250,000 units to 350,000 units. Toyota Motor Corp's hybrid sales accounted for 277,750 of those 2007 sales, representing nearly 80 percent market share, according to Denise Morrissey, a spokeswoman for Toyota. Morrissey said Toyota projects lower sales of 275,000 hybrid units in 2008, attributing the decrease to a weakened U.S. automobile market.

Despite being slower to the punch compared with their international competitors, automakers Chrysler LLC, General Motors Corp. and Ford Moter Co. maintain that sales from alternative-energy vehicles could surpass those of their international counterparts.

Don Walkowicz, executive director of USCAR, a Southfield, Mich., research and development collaboration involving the Big Three, said, "The domestic automakers can and are competing in this arena... I think in many respects U.S. companies are ahead of international manufacturers."

For example, Walkowicz said, not only do the companies offer cars with hybrid technology, but they have developed E85-compatible vehicles (also known as "flex fuel" vehicles) capable of running on both gasoline and ethanol fuels.

"The nice thing about flex vehicles is that you are not really making a choice," added Walkowicz. "You are giving the consumer an alternative so that you are not restricting them to that one technology."

According to USCAR, the American manufacturers are working on developing the alternative fuels as well as the cars to burn them.

"We have to approach the product holistically all the way across the board," said Frank O. Klegon, executive vice president of product development at Chrysler, at the Chicago Auto Show press preview on Wednesday. Klegon pointed to Chrysler's recent introduction of a series of "two-mode" hybrids, namely the Dodge Durango and Aspen products that will be released this summer.

The company plans to add to its current E85-compatible fleet of vehicles. "We will produce about 400,000 more of those vehicles this year," said Klegon. "It's about bringing all these elements to the market, concurrently."

Currently, Chrysler has close to 1.5 million E85-capable vehicles on the road.

General Motors also touted its array of alternative-energy vehicles at the show. GM's Cadillac division showcased both hybrid and traditional models of its popular 2009 Escalade SUVs. "It will be offered two different ways: we will offer the hybrid and all of the other Escalades will be offered with E85 capability," said John Howell, product director for Cadillac. According to Howell, Cadillac sold approximately 60,000 Escalades in 2007; however, he said, sales are projected to remain at the same level in 2008.

At a lower price point, GM offers hybrid technologies in the Chevrolet Tahoe and Malibu vehicles. "We have the lowest priced hybrid, just a little under $23,000," said Ed Peper, general manager of Chevrolet, referring to the Chevrolet Malibu. The Tahoe vehicle is the first hybrid system that has been mated with a full size SUV, according to Peper. He projects that Chevrolet's hybrids will account for 3 percent to 7 percent of the company's 2008 sales.

"Toyota only has one solution, the Prius and Camry hybrids," said Peper. "It's a good solution for them but not the only solution. At Chevy we offer five."

While domestic companies continue to introduce new energyefficient vehicles, they seem to agree that there is no clearly defined path towards a single alternative-fuel technology.

"There's no real winner yet, so we are developing the technologies in each one of those fields," said Klegon. "At the end, it's about vehicle efficiency for that particular customer. Then you apply the right technology as it comes to be developed."

The Chicago Auto Show opens to the public on Friday and runs through Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children and seniors.