Automotive policy goes to the polls

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama stake out different positions on issues affecting the automotive industry and future vehicle engineering.

It was 100 years ago that Henry Ford launched the revolutionary Model T, a car whose technology was a marked departure from what had been used in the incipient autos during the industry's gestation stage: the steering wheel was on the left; the entire engine and transmission were enclosed; the four cylinders were in a solid casting; the suspension used two semi-elliptic springs.

Now, too, Ford Motor Co.-along with Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp.-is attempting to design and produce revolutionary cars and light trucks to run on alternative fuels such as E85, and to run on batteries and fuel cells. But while Henry Ford did not ask for help from the U.S. government to launch the Model T, the domestic auto industry today in more ways than one, needs help. Without tax credits, without research and development funding, without reasonable fuel-efficiency goals, and without foreign-market-opening assistance, all four of which only the President and Congress can provide, the industry could sink deeper into the financial morass from which advanced-technology vehicles can help tow it out.