Environmental groups are getting what they want in government requirements to increase gasoline mileage, and to increase the use of "renewables" which is primarily ethanol. This is sort of a double whammy for the auto manufacturers since ethanol gets less mileage than gasoline in cars with engines designed to burn "flex fuels." A gallon of gasoline has about 18,000 BTU per pound, while a gallon of ethanol has contains about 12,000 BTU. Thus, with the same efficiency, the ethanol gets less mileage. (Note: an engine designed to burn only E85 could run at a higher compression ratio than one designed to run on gasoline because of higher octane level, ie, tendancy for pre-ignition, so would have higher efficiency.) The goverment wants manufacturers to increase their fleet average fuel consumption to 43.7 mpg by 2016. That is going to b difficult. The environmental activists don't see it as a problem. I saw one guy on TV who said the auto manufacturers just need to use the ingenuity that their engineers have, instead of just continuing to be ugly to the public. The environmentalists are beginning to realize that increased use of so-called renewables will increase generation of smog producing compounds.