Gain Without (Mentioning) Pain

DETROIT

The energy problem facing the United States is best summarized by one question: Is it possible to get consumers to accept changes that require some degree of sacrifice without asking them to sacrifice anything?

Attempts to answer in the affirmative have given us a federal energy policy that demands no consumer participation in energy conservation, either through extra fuel taxes or prescribed actions to be taken.

It has yielded an automotive industry response, amply demonstrated by the vehicles and technological concepts on display here at the huge 2008 North American International Auto Show, that promises to give consumers all of the horsepower and high-performance driving prowess they desire, all of the vehicle size and utility they want, all of the safety and reliability . . . and all of the fuel economy they demand at affordable prices.

"We are shielding consumers from the truth," said a General Motors executive, speaking on background.

What is that truth?

"We can't have an effective fuel conservation policy without asking consumers to give up something. But who wants to be the first car company to tell consumers that?" the GM executive said.

Executives from Ford, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW -- from nearly all of the auto companies exhibiting here -- expressed similar sentiments.

There were a few exceptions. Executives representing super-luxury brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati, said, quite frankly, that their clientele are unwilling to sacrifice anything for energy conservation and that the companies have no intention of ever asking them to give up anything.

"You have to understand," said Stephan Winkelmann, president and chief executive of Italy's Automobili Lamborghini, "we serve islands of wealth around the world."

Winkelmann said that Lamborghini clients on those "islands of wealth" -- such as the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and wealthy corners of China and Eastern Europe -- "do not share the same concerns about political correctness" possibly held by Lamborghini clients in North America or Western Europe, who might have image problems driving a high-powered, super-expensive car in a political milieu demanding more fuel conservation and more environmental responsibility.

Lamborghini will do what it can to make its cars, in which high-horsepower engines are standard fare and fuel economy is nonexistent, less consumptive. "But we will do absolutely nothing to diminish Lamborghini's super sports-car DNA," designed to yield maximum speed and performance, "and even a certain sound" from Lamborghini exhaust pipes, Winkelmann said.