According to this post in Treehugger (1/5/06), General Motors is partnering with Chevron and the State of California and an alternative ethanol company to launch a new line of "flex-fuel" vehicles.
Treehugger wonders:
Does this mean that the automaker has finally realized that its past tactics are simply not working and that they need – for the sake of the environment and their shareholders – a new approach? Well, according to an environmental consultant that has recently begun working with GM and prefers not to be named here, the scoop is that the General has indeed decided that the best place to try to make a breakthrough is with flex-fuel vehicles. In 2006, they will introduce new models that are able to burn an 85% ethanol mix (up to this point, only big pickups and SUVs could do it, but in 2006 two cars will too – more on that below) and and may significantly increase the total number of flex fuel vehicles that they produce (GM has 1.4 million of the nearly 5 million flex fuel vehicles on the road in the US).
Fascinating. The post goes on to say that GM is fully aware that the public mistakenly equates ethanol with corn, but that the vehicles will not be limited to corn-based fuels.
Well, it’s only a step–and not a hybrid, so it will have little effect on overall emissions–but keep in mind that at this time last year, Robert Lutz of General Motors was deriding Toyota’s investment in hybrid technology as an "advertising expense."
A journey of a thousand miles…
Kit Stolz 