AutoMOTIVE 5 - (Page 41)

Tim Leuliette metaldyne.qxd 24/11/06 10:47 am Page 41 in Nigeria, a flare-up in the Middle East and a growth of US. We'll never get there! Chinese oil demand; any one, two or three of those will Ever y time there is a hike in the price of oil the cycle t a k e oil from being very expensive to being is deeper and the losses are greater. Each one hits the unobtainable for a period of time. How expensive is OEMs harder than the last. The next crisis could be fatal hydrogen now compared to gasoline at $2.50 a gallon? for all our car companies, he warns. My proposal is this. The energy density of hydrogen's fuel cell product has A barrel of oil is going to cost $70 in the US regardless of doubled in the last five years. I fully admit that there the price coming in. If it only costs $50 to import, we'll isn't a hydrogen solution available tomorrow to solve p u t $20 in the treasury. We will make fuel more our problems. Hydrogen is a solution for the end of the expensive and force change. But you've got to do it in a next decade. But it starts today by taking a part of the structured way. When gasoline goes from $2 a gallon to $3 a gallon in six weeks, the automakers cannot react. t a x revenue and redirecting it to research and Par t of the problem in the US is that gasoline is so d e ve l o p m e n t . I've even said that we should take cheap, compared with Europe, for example, that we treasur y money and co-invest in some of the new build vehicles that no-one else on earth really wants. technologies so that the government and the taxpayer The sweet spot for engines in the US is between 3.5 to can benefit at the other end, when these businesses and 5 . 0 litres. Even Toyota and products reach the market, o t h e r s build vehicles here by owning a piece and which they don't really sell in selling it off. If we're worried We all know that we will end up other places. When fuel goes a b o u t the tax impact of with hydrogen. The issue is the up to $3 a gallon and beyond, funding this, let the taxpayer the rest of the world's b e a shareholder in this speed at which we, as a society, are automakers have vehicles to re vo l u t i o n . This is the willing to go there. impor t immediately, because purpose of man; to sustain they 're making them in their our society. This is the role of home markets, where fuel is g ove r n m e n t if there ever Tim Leuliette already very expensive. We was one. We all know that we like HEMIs in the United States. We like them because, will end up with hydrogen. The issue is the speed at with gas at $2 a gallon, they're fun. At $5 a gallon, you which we, as a society, are willing to go there. wouldn't sell many HEMIs. Such a fervent argument begs a question. If we all Leuliette is an unashamed disciple of a hydrogen k now that we will end up with hydrogen, why are economy, understanding that it's a 15 to 20-year plan billions being spent on the development of flex fuels? and that, like putting a man on the moon, digging the I t 's because the agrarian lobby in all the parliaments Panama Canal or laying a railroad across America, and congresses of the world is a very strong one, insists you've got to start sometime. What we need is to get Le u l i e t te. The guy who's making hydrogen today automakers and others around the table to talk about a doesn't vote. The guy who's growing corn does. 15 year plan to convert to hydrogen, he insists. Right Ultimately, John the Baptist lost his head. There may now, they're busy trying to pay their bills this quarter. be people out there who feel that Tim Leuliette has Civilisation has never had all the answers to every already lost his. There will be plenty of others, however, who regard his words as prophetic. a question. If we wait until we have them before making a commitment, we'll be at risk. The risk is this. At some time in the next ten to fifteen years a combination of the destabilisation of Venezuela, a continued problem 41 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AutoMOTIVE 5

Editors Note
News
Here For The Long Haul
Halewood. Rebirth of a Car Plant
Safety First
Focus on Flexibility
A Prophet Without Honour?
Chrysler Cuts It Four Ways
A MINI For All Reasons
Porsche Plans Continuous Logistics Improvement
Flawless, Consistent Execution
Ford's European Supplier Parks Deliver Lean Manufacturing Efficiencies
Cheap and Cheerful
Onwards and Upwards
Schrader and Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems Take the Pressure
No Faults Forward
A Long Way From Wheelbarrows and Bath Tubs
A New Era in US/Japanese Cooperation
A Dialogue of the Deaf

AutoMOTIVE 5

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