May 7, 2003
By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A new set of ads attacking Detroit automakers for failing to deliver more fuel-efficient vehicles is sure to revive the debate over fuel economy and national security.
The television commercials, beginning today, in Detroit and seven other U.S. cities, argue that the auto industry's failure to produce a 40 mpg SUV has increased American dependence on foreign oil.
It is the latest salvo in an increasingly media-oriented drive by environmental and religious groups to change the politics of fuel economy.
One set of ads appearing last winter asked, "What Would Jesus Drive?" casting vehicle choice in moral terms. Another set of ads, conceived by newspaper columnist Arianna Huffington, made a satirical connection between owning an SUV and helping terrorists in the Middle East.
The new ads are sponsored by Huffington's Detroit Project and the Natural Resources Defense Council. They are a parody of auto ads, highlighting features the groups say automakers won't put into cars on the market.
"Detroit should be able to put on the road any kind of car the consumer wants and make it fuel efficient," Huffington said.
In the new spot, the camera pans over a desert and then circles around an SUV wrapped in a billowing satin sheet. A narrator says: "It can take America to work in the morning without sending it to war in the afternoon. With a sophisticated braking system that stops our dependence on foreign oil. It gets 40 miles to every gallon, with thousands of dollars saved at the pump."
As the satin sheet pulls away, revealing an empty space, the narrator continues: "The only problem is Detroit won't build it."
The groups said they were airing the ads to spur lawmakers in Washington to include a fuel economy provision in an energy bill the Senate is debating this week.
Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the ads ignore the fact that automakers already offer numerous models with high fuel economy.
(Photo) One commercial touts a new model's 40 MPG, but when a sheet is pulled away nothing is there and a voice says, "The only problem is Detroit won't build it."
By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A new set of ads attacking Detroit automakers for failing to deliver more fuel-efficient vehicles is sure to revive the debate over fuel economy and national security.
The television commercials, beginning today, in Detroit and seven other U.S. cities, argue that the auto industry's failure to produce a 40 mpg SUV has increased American dependence on foreign oil.
It is the latest salvo in an increasingly media-oriented drive by environmental and religious groups to change the politics of fuel economy.
One set of ads appearing last winter asked, "What Would Jesus Drive?" casting vehicle choice in moral terms. Another set of ads, conceived by newspaper columnist Arianna Huffington, made a satirical connection between owning an SUV and helping terrorists in the Middle East.
The new ads are sponsored by Huffington's Detroit Project and the Natural Resources Defense Council. They are a parody of auto ads, highlighting features the groups say automakers won't put into cars on the market.
"Detroit should be able to put on the road any kind of car the consumer wants and make it fuel efficient," Huffington said.
In the new spot, the camera pans over a desert and then circles around an SUV wrapped in a billowing satin sheet. A narrator says: "It can take America to work in the morning without sending it to war in the afternoon. With a sophisticated braking system that stops our dependence on foreign oil. It gets 40 miles to every gallon, with thousands of dollars saved at the pump."
As the satin sheet pulls away, revealing an empty space, the narrator continues: "The only problem is Detroit won't build it."
The groups said they were airing the ads to spur lawmakers in Washington to include a fuel economy provision in an energy bill the Senate is debating this week.
Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the ads ignore the fact that automakers already offer numerous models with high fuel economy.
(Photo) One commercial touts a new model's 40 MPG, but when a sheet is pulled away nothing is there and a voice says, "The only problem is Detroit won't build it."