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With President Bush’s signature, an energy bill that includes a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards has become law. Driving America’s Future has supported a reasonable and achievable increase in CAFE standards from the beginning of the debate and Congress, in a bi-partisan fashion under the strong leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid, crafted legislation which presents automakers with an achievable goal without excessive regulatory costs that stifle innovation. This legislation also supports advanced technologies that can make future increases in CAFE standards unnecessary as vehicle electrification along with the use of alternative fuels may remove the automobile from the climate change debate permanently.

Amazingly, in just the few months this debate on energy has been waged, a number of advances in vehicle technology have already taken place, including dual mode hybrids in SUVs, advances in batteries for plug-in electric hybrid vehicles and the public release of hydrogen fueled vehicles from BMW, Honda and General Motors. All of this has occurred in just the last nine months, and I firmly believe this is just the beginning.

I want to thank our coalition members that have lent their support to Driving America’s Future’s efforts. Without the time and effort of our membership our collective voices could not have been added to the debate nor would it have carried as much weight. Whether community groups, the agricultural community, labor, business or industry, our coalition members would in some way be affected by automotive energy policy. I am pleased we were able to find common ground and I know our coalition members will be pleased to see the balanced, reasonable and achievable bill that our voice helped to shape.

Now that the standards are set, we must all work together to ensure the infrastructure and market tools are in place to support the automotive advancements.

Driving America’s Future looks forward to being involved with the exciting developments in our energy and automotive future

-Rodney E. Slater, Chairman

Chrysler recently introduced ENVI, a new division within the company that will build and design electric and hybrid vehicles. ENVI will be based in Detroit and be staffed by specialists in engineering, manufacturing, procurement and supply as the company plans to introduce its first two hybrid vehicles, a Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen in 2009.

This announcement is a further development of “green collar” jobs which will continue to rise as more and more auto manufactures expand their efforts in advanced technology. “Green collar” jobs make up the occupations or service sectors that are environmentally friendly and promote cleaner and/or renewable energy for the future. From installing solar panels on a house to designing more fuel efficient vehicles, these  jobs are becoming more popular.

According to a 2006 study by Management Information Systems, Inc., the “green economy” is exploding into a billion-dollar industry. Green jobs will have a tremendous effect not only for our environment, but also for our economy with more jobs being created every day.

-Rodney E. Slater, Chairman

Ford and Daimler are investing $60 million a piece in a shared venture to purchase the automotive fuel cell division of Ballard Power Systems. This purchase gives the companies access to numerous patents for the fuel cell technology as well as a highly trained work force of 150 people.

This is another major investment in the future of the automobile and should further silence the skeptics that believe fuel cells are a pie in the sky technology. An investment of $120 million would simply not be made if Ford and Daimler did not believe their investment would make great returns. Ballard’s system is already in use by 130 cars, trucks and buses and with two major auto companies on board, this number will only grow.

In addition, Honda revealed its own customer-ready fuel cell vehicle at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, and General Motors has released 100 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles of its own to the general public on short term leases. The automakers involved in hydrogen are promising major advances in the next five years, and investments like this signal an industry that is on track to meet this impressive goal.

-Rodney E. Slater, Chairman