The annual season of major U.S. auto shows is underway. And this year, the
hot trend isn’t about horsepower or towing capacity. It’s about saving you
gas at the pump. But as Dustin Dwyer reports, the rhetoric is still ahead
of the reality:
Transcript
The annual season of major U.S. auto shows is underway. And this year, the hot trend
isn’t about horsepower or towing capacity. It’s about saving you gas at the pump.
But, as
Dustin Dwyer reports, the rhetoric is still ahead of the reality:
At the Los Angeles Auto Show, some promises were made by auto companies about
building cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars.
The problem is that, so far, the big gains have only been in a few specialized
vehicles, not
across the board.
David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists says auto companies are making
some progress on cleaner technology. But he says the real test is whether they can
improve efficiency across all types of vehicles.
“Right now if you’re a mother of three and you need to have all those three kids in
car
seats, you probably need a minivan. A compact car won’t work for you. And yet, if you
walk into the showroom today, your choice for a minivan is what 20, 21, maybe 23 miles
per gallon? That’s no real choice.”
The next chance for the automakers to unveil new gas conscious vehicles comes later
this
month at the Detroit Auto Show.
For the Environment Report, I’m Dustin Dwyer.