Schwarzenegger to Detroit Automakers: “get Off your Butt”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator-turned-governor pulled no punches Wednesday in telling Detroit automakers to "get off your butt" and raise the fuel efficiency of their vehicles. And Schwarzenegger is also saying they are "still lagging behind." Tough.

Schwarzenegger's retaliation came as he responded to a billboard displayed last month along Interstate 75 in Detroit. The billboards criticized the governor for mandating vehicle emission caps in California that will be costly for the Detroit automakers to comply.

It was U.S. Rep Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield Hills, who created the billboard. It features Schwarzenegger's photo and it drew widespread attention. The billboard that flashes like VW PIAA bulbs reads, "Arnold to Michigan: Drop Dead.” "Now, there's a billboard in Michigan that accuses me of costing the car industry $85 billion," Schwarzenegger said during a talk at a Global Environment Conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The fact of the matter is what I'm saying is, 'Arnold to Michigan: Get off your butt. Get off your butt and join us.'"

In 2002, California ordered its air resources board to take on caps to radically reduce carbon dioxide emissions and force more than a 30 percent improvement in fuel economy over the next decade. The auto industry has filed suits to block the regulations.

Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, said that the rules would help the industry. "What we are doing is we are pushing them to make changes, to make the changes so they can sell their cars in California," he said. "And we all know - let's be honest - that if they don't change, someone will. The Japanese will. The Chinese will. The South Koreans will. The Germans will."

Schwarzenegger said that he is optimistic about the future of Detroit automakers who are all struggling to compete against foreign rivals grabbing ever more U.S. auto sales. "I want them to sell the cars in California," Schwarzenegger said. "I believe strongly in American technology. And I think in the end it will be technology that will ultimately save Detroit."

The General Motors Corp. and the DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group agreed with the governor's emphasis on technology, but took issue with other aspects of his comments. "Technology is the solution, but it's not government mandates that are not based on science or on what consumers want or need," GM spokesman Greg Martin said.

GM is aggressively pursuing technologies to improve fuel economy, Martin said, and has more 30-mpg models on the road than any automaker. Chrysler spokesman Jason Vines said that the U.S. auto companies have led environmental advances, including the development of the catalytic converter.

Trent Wisecop, the Knollenberg spokesman, said Schwarzenegger "is dead wrong on this issue. The mandates that are coming out of California would devastate the manufacturing sector of the American economy."

"What we are doing is we are pushing them [the auto industry] to make changes, to make the changes so they can sell their cars in California," he said. "And we all know - let's be honest - that if they don't change, someone will. The Japanese will. The Chinese will. The South Koreans will. The Germans will."