Green Options

Most odd stories relating to the environment tend to revolve around researchers and scientists and their slightly off the wall discoveries. But not so today. Today, in news of the weird – or at least slightly surreal – I bring you Daimler, the German automaker, who announced last week their very first hybrid car, the Mercedes Benz S Class. It’s a limousine.

We knew SUV’s were an insensitive consumer response to climate change, but after reports today of one such driver striking and another dragging a pedestrian’s body 17 miles along New York City’s highways, the mobile monstrosities will likely face even more adversity.

City Room sums up the episode:

A pedestrian was struck by a sport utility vehicle on a street in Corona, Queens, on Wednesday morning, then immediately struck again by a cargo van that dragged the victim 17 miles through a web of city highways and to Coney Island in Brooklyn, the police said. The pedestrian, apparently a male, was killed.

The victim had not yet been identified, though some paperwork was found in the clothing on his body, which was wedged under the van’s chassis, the police said. The authorities said there did not appear to be any criminality involved.

With American S.U.V. sales at an all time low and owners unable to sell them, manufacturers have had to come up with new market.  Right now that market is in Russia.

Russia, with a population of over 150 Million people, may not sound like the greatest market, but the fact that less than 20 percent of the population even owns a vehicle, makes it huge rife for potential.  According to Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP, Russian bought 1.6 million vehicles in the first six months of the year, a 40 per increase from the first half of 2007. Well, to begin with, gas cost’s more than half as much than in most Western European Markets.  Add in the fact that their economy is growing from between 6 and 8 percent annually, partly do to swelling commodity prices on its vast oil reserves, and the countries notoriusly rough roads and winters, and you have a mix ripe with possibilities.

Though Russia’s economy is doing well, housing continues to be very cost prohibitive to a great  portion of the population.  Not everyone can afford decent housing, and a lot of people have actually invested their money in high end S.U.V.’s to live in.

As with any society that is going through burgeoning growth, Russian consumers have become very brand conscience, and you can be sure that American Auto Manufacturers will be there to make sure that even they, can have a piece of the American Way.

Editors Note: This guest post was contributed by Charley Territo, spokesperson for the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, in an effort encourage better dialogue between the auto industry and the environmental movement. Charley also contributed a guest post on Grist on May 20. I asked him to weigh in on a question I’ve had for a long time: How can automakers like GM complain that consumers only want to buy big cars when they spend hundreds of thousands advertising brands like Hummer? Here is his response. Feel free to weigh in with your own comments below.

For years it’s been assumed that, using their superior marketing skills, automakers have the ability to trick consumers into buying SUVs and pickup trucks…when, in reality, the consumers really only
wanted to buy compact cars.  While that’s probably quite flattering to the marketing departments, it doesn’t have the important benefit of actually being correct.

Current events are now allowing people to see more clearly the greater force at work driving consumer demand: Gas prices.

Can a 10,000 square foot house really be green? Is a hybrid GMC Yukon SUV an oxymoron? At what point does the alleged greenness of something go from truly being green to mere greenwashing?

The environmental bandwagon is getting crowded as more and more people recognize the benefits and importance of going green. Sometimes it is out of a genuine sense of commitment to green principles. But

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