Plug-in Hybrids 'Yes,' Ethanol 'No:' Largest-Ever Push Mounted to Drive GM, Ford to Shift From Ethanol to Plug-in Hybrids

Co-op America Aims to Help 15,000 Americans Send A Message to Nation's Largest Automakers; Rankings of Vehicle Fuel Sources Featured in Co-op America Quarterly.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2007; America's two biggest car makers -- General Motors Corporation (GM) and the Ford Motor Company -- are the focus of the most ambitious effort ever to enlist Americans to tell Detroit to stop focusing on ethanol fuel at the expense of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). Auto consumers who want to speak out are being encouraged by Co-op America to go HERE, in order to send a message to Alan Mulally, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company, and G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., chairman and CEO, GM.

The Web site also features the "Fueling Our Future" feature in the current issue of the Co-op America Quarterly at http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/caq/articles/Summer2007Fuels.cfm. The Quarterly provides a ranking of key auto fuel sources, including gasoline, ethanol, gas-electric hybrid power trains and PHEVs and tells viewers which fuels are truly green, and which are just greenwashing.

Co-op America Corporate Responsibility Programs Director Todd Larsen said: "As the planet heats up, America's largest car makers are giving us a lot of hot air about solutions, but taking few real steps to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions. Both Ford and GM have the capability to mass produce plug- in hybrid cars in the near future. Ford has announced a partnership with Southern California Edison to produce such cars in the next 5-10 years. Chevy unveiled the Chevy Volt concept car, a plug-in, at auto shows this year. We are asking thousands of concerned consumers nationwide to tell Ford and GM to stop promoting corn-based ethanol, and focus instead on increased fuel efficiency and plug-in hybrid vehicles as real solutions to the climate and energy crises."

"Plug-in hybrids will save consumers money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve national security by moving us away from oil," said Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America (New Society Publishers). "The technology is ready today. We just need the political will to get these cars on the road. I encourage all concerned consumers to take Co-op America's action encouraging Ford and GM to produce plug-ins soon."

The suggested letter text to GM and Ford reads, in part, as follows: "Instead of promoting ethanol, your companies need to improve the fuel efficiency of your vehicles to 40 mpg by 2012 and 55 mpg by 2020 to avert a climate crisis. Since the majority of your companies' greenhouse gas emissions are generated by your cars when they're driven this calls for increased fuel efficiency and increased production of hybrid, including plug- in hybrid cars... The next car I buy will be a plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle and I'll only consider buying from your company if you make them!"

ABOUT CO-OP AMERICA

Co-op America is a non-profit membership organization founded in 1982 with the mission to harness economic power-the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace-and to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.