WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. incentives to aid hybrid-vehicle growth could hurt diesel and other technologies, the DaimlerChrysler AG chairman said in Washington Tuesday.
"What we need to avoid in this country is a legislative bias that favors a single technology, be it hybrid or anything else," DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche said at the opening of the Washington Auto Show. "State and federal governments shouldn't be in the business to giving certain vehicle drive technologies an edge in the market."
He said hybrid tax credits and other benefits, such as letting hybrid vehicles use special commuter lanes in traffic, could have unintended consequences, The Detroit Free Press reported.
"We may lose out on other technologies that can move us toward our objectives perhaps even faster," he said. "The more efficient solution is to provide equal incentives to achieving the desired outcome, in this case lower fuel consumption with cleaner emission and then let the market decide."
At the show, Zetsche pushed diesel engines, which could increasingly be run by fuels other than petroleum.
