LIANE HANSEN, host:
This week, the North American International Auto Show opens in Detroit. The event comes after a bruising year for American car companies which have lost billions of dollars. U.S. carmakers hoped that a new commitment to green will help propel them toward recovery.
NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.
ANTHONY BROOKS: For at least the past decade, American automakers have counted on big pickup trucks and full-sized SUVs to define their success; weight, power and muscle were the operative words. But now, the industry is embracing a new word.
(Soundbite of TV ad)
ELMO (Sesame Street Character): (Singing) It's not that easy being green.
BROOKS: This new ad from Ford features the green Muppet, Elmo, struggling up a cliff until he reaches the top and finds a brand new Ford Escape, a hybrid SUV that runs on gas and electricity.
(Soundbite of TV ad)
ELMO: (Singing) It's not that easy…
Unidentified Man: No.
ELMO: (Singing) …being green.
BROOKS: Maybe not easy but certainly necessary, now that gas costs around $3 a gallon and after Congress raised fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years - a little surprise then that this week in Detroit, the North American International Auto Show will be all about green. Here's how Ed Peper, general manager of GM Chevrolet, introduced the new Chevy Volt at the L.A. auto show last November.
Mr. ED PEPER (General Manager, GM Chevrolet): Plug it in overnight then drive 40 miles without burning any gasoline. The onboard engine is only for recharging the battery, allowing you to go hundreds of miles on a single tank.
BROOKS: This year, in Detroit, carmakers will be tripping over each other, hyping their greenness. Besides the Chevy Volt, Chrysler will show off three green vehicles, including a hybrid Jeep with a lithium battery, an electric station wagon and a car fueled by hydrogen. But don't expect to see any of these at your local dealer yet. These are so-called concept cars, imaginary vehicles still being developed. But even skeptics say they do show that Detroit is finally changing its ways.
Mr. PAUL EISENSTEIN (Publisher, The Car Connection): A couple of years ago, I probably wouldn't have taken the U.S. automakers very seriously when they started talking green.
BROOKS: That's Paul Eisenstein, who publishes The Car Connection. He says he now believes that Detroit is serious about going green.
Mr. EISENSTEIN: A lot of it has to do with simple market realities. Consumers want the industry to go green, and they're starting to shift where they spend their dollars.
BROOKS: A great example of that is the hybrid Toyota Prius, now the best-selling green machine on the market. But Eisenstein points out a lot of other hybrids aren't selling very well. And despite the green hype at this year's show, sales of the big pickups and SUVs are still way ahead of more fuel-efficient hybrid. Again, Paul Eisenstein.
Mr. EISENSTEIN: We are seeing a sort of schizophrenia in the business. The big trucks and SUVs remain a mainstay for Detroit. There's a big push for performance, but there's also a big push for green-minded technology.
BROOKS: So in one corner, there's a new Detroit, with all those hybrids and green concept vehicles. And in the other, there's old Detroit, rolling out a brand new Corvette, $100,000 muscle car with a V8 engine that goes 200 miles an hour. And Ford and Chrysler will continue the horsepower chase with newly designed big pickup trucks. All of which makes people like Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club, question just how seriously to take Detroit's green conversion.
Mr. CARL POPE (Executive Director, Sierra Club): We can take seriously that there's nothing like $100 a barrel of oil would focus the attention of the auto industry.
BROOKS: But if they were really serious, Pope says automakers wouldn't have fought to weaken fuel efficiency mandates in the recently passed energy bill. And he says they wouldn't be fighting California's strict auto emissions law.
Mr. POPE: That was the signal that they're not serious yet about the long-term.
BROOKS: But David Cole disagrees. Cole is the chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Michigan and says Detroit is committed to green. And he says automakers deserve credit for past accomplishments like the development of the catalytic converter and unleaded fuel.
Mr. DAVID COLE (Chairman, Center for Automotive Research): It's, by several orders of magnitude, the most significant invention that has ever been done for the environment. When we write the history of this industry, we're not going to see Detroit as laagered but Detroit as one of the primetime players. And progress that's being made today is really pretty amazing.
BROOKS: Cole says that progress includes new lithium batteries and new biofuels, which could make those concept cars reality within a year or two. If so, that might help revive a struggling U.S. auto industry. So a big theme of this year's auto show is recovery. And the big hope is that green can lead the way.
Anthony Brooks, NPR News.