Why You Can't Buy This Car

Curiously, from the viewpoint of an American long accustomed to homeland criticism of GM and other Detroit automakers as recalcitrant producers of gas guzzlers, GM is seen as a fuel economy leader here. The proof is on the Palexpo show floor.

In addition to the Corsa OPC (Opel Performance Center), there are the Opel Meriva Cosmo city wagon, the Opel Zafira compact minivan and the Opel Antara crossover vehicle. There also is a whole raft of small to mid-size European Chevrolet models, including the five-door Lacetti passenger car, the mid-size Epica sedan, the compact Kalos city car, the micro Matiz automobile, and city wagons such as the Tacuma and the Nubira.

Most of those models easily get 30 miles per gallon, and the smaller vehicles, especially those equipped with advanced diesel engines, get substantially better mileage.

"Are there two GMs?" I asked Lutz.

"No," he said. "There is one global GM serving a variety of very different markets. We try to do whatever we have to do to succeed in each market."

It is questionable whether that argument will succeed in Washington next week, when GM executives will go before what is expected to be a testy House Energy and Commerce Committee to be grilled on what the company is and isn't doing to make more fuel-efficient vehicles for the American market.

Top executives from Ford, Toyota, the Chrysler Group and the United Auto Workers union also will appear before the committee.

Lutz said GM will do whatever needs to be done to meet federal fuel-economy laws. But he said Congress has to do something to curb America's appetite for big cars and trucks to make any gasoline-conservation program successful.

America is in love with all things big, an affection afforded by low fossil-fuel prices, which today remain the lowest in the developed world. Big things -- cars, trucks, houses, restaurant-quality and -size kitchen appliances -- use more energy.

And American cars don't go as far on a gallon of gas. Automakers in the European Union have agreed to voluntary increases in fuel-economy standards next year that will lift the average to 44.2 miles per gallon, according to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. In 2008, the United States is scheduled to remain at a standard of 24.9 miles per gallon.

"We build and sell big cars and trucks in the United States because that is what consumers there say they want," Lutz said.

"We also sell many fuel-efficient models in America," he continued.

"But the mix of smaller, more fuel-efficient models is bigger in Europe than it is in the United States. We need gasoline of 6 bucks a gallon to change that equation in America. If America really wants more fuel-efficient cars, which will mean more smaller models, it's up to the government to establish parameters in which that market will work," Lutz said.