Gear

Bush and Big Three Chiefs Push Flex, Diss Efficiency

President Bush and the heads of GM, Ford, and Chrysler pushed ethanol and flex-fuel vehicles as the best way to cut U.S. fuel consumption in a meeting at the White House. Ignoring his own call for higher fuel-efficiency standards, Bush praised the automakers for ramping up production on flex-fuel cars and trucks: "That’s a major […]

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President Bush and the heads of GM, Ford, and Chrysler pushed ethanol and flex-fuel vehicles as the best way to cut U.S. fuel consumption in a meeting at the White House. Ignoring his own call for higher fuel-efficiency standards, Bush praised the automakers for ramping up production on flex-fuel cars and trucks:

"That's a major technological breakthrough for the country," Bush said. "If you want to reduce gasoline usage like I believe we need to do so for national security reasons as well as for environmental concerns, the consumer has got to be in a position to make a rational choice."

Toyota was not invited.

After the meeting, Bush went out to the South Lawn to see an E85 flex-fuel Chevy Impala, a Ford Edge HySeries with a plug-in hydrogen fuel cell, and a Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel running on a B5 biodiesel blend. In what we assume was an ease-of-use demo, he also "stuck a yellow plug into a jack positioned near the front door of the Ford Edge."

Bush praises automakers for flex-fuel vehicles [AP]