Hybrid vehicles will bolster national security by reducing dependence on foreign oil, President George W. Bush yesterday told U.S. auto industry workers and executives at two factories.
The tour was Bush’s first visit as president to any U.S. automaker, though he previously has visited U.S. plants operated by Nissan Motor Co. and BMW.
He told workers at the Ford Motor Co. Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Mo., which makes the Escape and Mariner hybrid vehicles, that developing battery and alternative fuel technology is a “national objective,” according to Bloomberg News. “When you’re dependent on oil, and the objective of some of the terrorists is to destroy oil networks, it creates a national security problem,” he said.
Gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles made there and at the General Motors Corp. plant he visited in nearby Fairfax, Kan., also will help, Bush said. But Japanese automakers are the nation’s biggest sellers of gas-electric hybrids, and the factories Bush visited yesterday are among those affected by recent job cuts as GM, Ford and Chrysler attempt to stem losses that totaled $16 billion last year.
