(A year-or-so ago, Chrysler sponsored a contest called, "What can you Hemi?" This trike was one of the winning entries ...).
If a hallmark of a great leader is to challenge those around him or her to achieve what they never could before, while encouraging them along the way, Detroit and the world's carmakers might yet propose President Barack Obama be crowned King of the World.
Or not.
The Detroit News reports that President Barack Obama yesterday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider whether California and 13 other states should have the right to impose their own tailpipe emissions standards, a proposal which the Bush administration had not given serious consideration.
Obama also directed the Transportation Department to set an increase in federal fuel efficiency standards for the 2011 model year, as required by a 2007 energy law, but will delay setting 2012-2015 requirements. 
(Henrik Fisker, a veteran European car designer who has worked for BMW, Aston Martin and Ford, says he's soon to go into production with this EV, called Karma, seen at its introduction at last year's Detroit Auto Show; Fisker has also been involved with Tesla, another EV-maker).
Rather than instituting new standards immediately by Executive Order, Obama's actions gives some breathing (and perhaps negotiating) room to domestic and foreign carmakers already consumed with the financial meltdown and the collapse of the US car and truck market, the world's largest.
And as Ken Bensinger and Jim Tankersley wrote in today’s Los Angeles Times, lawmakers and environmentalists said the president's actions paved the way to development of a national carbon standard for automobiles.
Such a standard already is in force in Europe and Japan. Crafting a national rule would please environmentalists, but surprisingly could also satisfy the automobile industry, which has argued that trying to comply with a California greenhouse gas rule in addition to a federal mileage standard would be cumbersome and costly.
The worldwide auto industry, without fail, has complained, griped, bitched, cried, whined and lobbied - lots of lobbying - about every single safety and environmental advance mandated of it by government, from seat belts to "soft" dashboards and airbags, from unleaded gas to CAFÉ standards and 5-mile-an-hour bumpers.
(This 2004 V8-powered Nissan Titan is typical of products from some import carmakers who, along with the Detroit Three, hopped on the SUV/truck bandwagon and are now agonizingly reappraising their decisions to move away from cars).
The auto industry, like all businesses, does not want to spend one penny more than it absolutely must.
Washington is now set to finalize perhaps the greatest leap forward in emissions and fuel economy standards in history during an economic melt-down which has brought American, European and Asian carmakers to their financial knees.
The birth of the auto industry is generally regarded as occurring in 1886 when Karl Benz received a German government patent for his "motorwagen". Between then and July, 1970, when the US Environmental Protection Agency was created, carmakers produced as many cars and trucks as the traffic would bear, with little or no consideration given to emissions, fuel mileage or the safety advancements we take for granted today.
Next year, 2010, will be the 40th anniversary of the US EPA. One might think that by now the manufacturers would have gotten used to the idea that EPA exists and have some understanding in which direction the agency is generally headed.
(Yes, my friends, step right up to witness the little single-cylinder beauty that started it all, a Mercedes-Benz factory-built replica of the 1886 "patent motorwagen" built by Karl Benz, generally considered the first "serious" car which still shares the basics with every car and truck sold today).
Obama's announcements drew the expected and predictably swift rebukes, as reported by industry journal Automotive News:
David Regan, Vice President of Legislative Affairs, National Automobile Dealers Association:
"With almost 1,000 auto dealerships closing last year at a cost of over 50,000 jobs, we are hopeful the President and the EPA Administrator will realize that a single national fuel-economy standard set by his Administration is smarter than a patchwork of state regulations that further endanger the struggling auto industry."
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.:
"In recent meetings with the new EPA director and the new chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, I was personally assured that the EPA review does not begin with a foregone conclusion, and that the review will be thorough and objective. I sure hope that is true, because a separate California standard will not only create the 'confusing and patchwork set of standards' that President Obama today implied he wanted to avoid, but also, as the California standard is currently drafted, it is discriminatory against U.S.-made vehicles of the same efficiency as the imports."
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.:
"We have an absolute crisis in the American auto industry and today's decision to pile on new regulations without any substantive help is a cruel blow to Michigan workers and their families."
(GM CEO Rick Wagoner exits a "test mule," a version of the Chevy Cruze which has, they tell us, the running gear of the company's Volt extended-range gas/electric hybrid, prior to his second round of official debasement and defilement by the House; that's Michigan Rep. Sandy Levin getting out of the back; his brother, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, is on the car's other side; Carl and Sandy are often called the "Senator and Congressman from General Motors;" you have to wonder which one their mom liked best; they're both reliable Democratic legislators with a pro-business bent - Guess which business).
General Motors:
"GM is working aggressively on the products and the advance technologies that match the nation's and consumer's priorities to save energy and reduce emissions. We're ready to engage the Obama administration and the Congress on policies that support meaningful and workable solutions and targets that benefit consumers from coast to coast."
Dave McCurdy, CEO, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers:
"The Alliance supports a nationwide program that bridges state and federal concerns and moves all stakeholders forward, and we are ready to work with the Administration on developing a national approach."
While these quotes show a (somewhat) willingness to work with the Administration, it appears, as far as the government is concerned, much if not all of the debate is already over.
Carmakers, especially those receiving taxpayer billions, must plan for their future viability while they develop the kind of low-emissions, high-mileage and alternative-fueled and -powered cars and trucks which European and Asian manufacturers have already brought to market, including hybrids and clean diesels.
As he asks more from carmakers already in desperate circumstances, Obama is signaling that he has more faith in them than they may have in themselves. Whether such faith is justified remains to be seen.
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