Co-Op America Urges Carmakers to Mass-Produce Plug-In Hybrids

Motor, May 2008

The campaign to persuade American automakers to mass-produce plug-in hybrid vehicles was in full force at the Washington DC Auto Show earlier this year as the organization's members and staff encouraged attendees to ask carmakers to "Plug-In To Climate Solutions." It has been reported that more than 10,000 consumers have already expressed to General Motors and Ford their wish that the companies devote more resources to mass-producing a plug-in hybrid and using currently available technology to break the 100-mpg barrier.

Co-Op America is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1982 with the mission to harness economic power-the strength of consumers, investors, businesses and the marketplace-and to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

According to Yochanan Zakai, the organization's Climate Change Program Coordinator, "consumer demand continues to grow for fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid vehicles, but for year after year automakers continue to display concept vehicles inside auto shows. We call on domestic automakers to keep their assembly lines open and meet consumer demand by mass-producing plug-in hybrid vehicles before 2010."

A Civil Society Institute survey of Michigan households released in February 2007, with more than a third of households including at least one person directly or indirectly involved in the auto industry, revealed the three biggest problems facing the U.S. auto industry today:

* 60% pointed most often to "the industry not offering the best available technology, including improved fuel efficiency";

* 59% said there was an "overemphasis on production of vehicles with poor fuel efficiency, like SUVs";

* 53% felt that there was "poor U.S. auto industry vision and leadership."