Chevrolet Volt Goes to Washington To Underline GM's Anti-CAFE-Increase Argument

General Motors' North American operations chief, Troy Clarke, is meeting with legislators on Capitol Hill today, and he's bringing along the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid prototype. GM hopes the Volt will help convince lawmakers that electric and alternative-fuel vehicles are the route to energy independence. The Big Three have strenuously opposed a proposed increase in CAFE standards, saying the cost of meeting higher mpg averages would take away resources that could be put toward development of alternative-energy vehicles.

While in Washington, the Volt will also be present at an Electric Power Research Institute meeting on plug-in hybrids, to be held at the National Press Club, the Detroit News reported today.

Earlier this week, about 100 auto dealers visited legislators in Washington, carrying the same message. The proposed increase, already approved by the Senate, would mean cars and light trucks would have to attain an average 35 mpg by 2020. GM has said it would have to spend more than $40 billion to meet that standard.

Separately, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner visited GM's Brazil and Argentina operations this week and called Brazil's flex-fuel efforts "visionary." All GM products now manufactured in Brazil are flexible-fuel compatible, and Wagoner said half of GM's U.S. production will be flex-fuel by 2012. The automaker announced this week that it will invest $500 million to bring out a new small-car product lineup in South America.

Quoted by the Dow Jones news service, Wagoner said General Motors "expects to see the U.S. government fully embrace biofuels."