GM's Lutz: Higher gas tax would help

DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) — Bob Lutz is generally not a close ally of environmentalists.

The vice chairman of General Motors is a frequent critic of fuel economy rules and once declared that global warming was a “total crock” of excrement, although he used a more common and colorful word in that description.

Lutz also declared in 2004 that hybrid cars didn’t make sense to sell or buy. And just this week, as he and GM were hyping the new electric Chevrolet Volt, at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show, he declared that internal combustion engines would dominate the auto industry for the next 20 years, no matter what advances were made in electric vehicles.

So Bob Lutz wouldn’t seem a likely candidate to argue for significantly higher gasoline taxes, or to suggest that such taxes would be a good thing for the auto industry. But in a meeting with journalists at the auto show Monday, he did just that.

“If the rise in gasoline prices is gradual, I think that all of us in the industry would frankly welcome that, because there is nothing more illogical than forcing fuel-saving technology when gasoline is extremely cheap,” he said when asked about any concerns about oil again rising above $80 a barrel.

CNN