Big Three IS Planning on Boosting Production of Non-Gasoline Vehicles & What Japan Announced

Yesterday, I went off about how I felt that the Big Three automakers in the U.S. can blame much of their struggles on their inability to see the trend toward alternative fueled vehicles like Toyota and Honda has. I was glad, then, to read that after meeting last month, the Chief Executives of Ford, General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler have decided to double the production of vehicles that can run on renewable fuels by 2010.

While the doubling takes the number to about 2 million vehicles, I still feel that there is a long way to go. But it's a start.

Interesting, though, that this was announced the same day - Japan will require all vehicles on the road to be able run on an ethanol mix by 2030. I definitely have my concerns about ethanol, especially ethanol made in the U.S. due to the power of the corn lobby, but I think this can be a great move.