Automakers tout 'green' technology

CHICAGO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. and foreign automakers Wednesday unveiled new hybrid and flexible fuel vehicles at the Chicago Auto Show they say will reduce dependence on gasoline.

Jim Press, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motors Sales USA, said nearly one-third of potential vehicle buyers now say they are interested in hybrid technology that reduces oil consumption. "We don't have an ailing industry," he told a breakfast at the 98th Chicago Auto Show. "All the companies are quickly learning to do what they have to do."

Automaker after automaker cited President George Bush's call in the State of the Union speech for promoting better batteries, use of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 per gasoline, and pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen.

Press said the world's three largest economies, the United States, China and Japan, produce 6 percent of the world's oil supply but use 40 percent. He said every auto company is building a hybrid and that hybrids had saved 100 million gallons of gas in the nine years since Toyota built the first Prius in Japan.

Ford gave the city of Chicago a hybrid Escape SUV that can burn E-85.

"Ford developed the first hybrid SUV," said Anne Stevens, Ford's executive vice president and CEO of The Americas, who announced a partnership with VeraSun Energy to build E85 refueling stations.