UAW boss drives a hybrid, worries about gas

Unlike many owners of fuel-sipping gas-electric hybrid vehicles, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger has good reason to be worried about high U.S. gas prices.

That's because the UAW, which has failed to sign up workers at foreign-owned auto assembly plants cropping up across the southern United States, is heavily dependent on Detroit's traditional Big Three automakers for its livelihood.

The Big Three in turn depend on big trucks and sport utility vehicles for much of their profits.

Demand for the fuel-thirsty vehicles dropped sharply earlier this year, as gasoline prices began their upward spiral. Sales have picked up again since June, after General Motors, Ford, and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler began selling vehicles to the general public at the same discounted prices their employees pay.

But any further escalation in pump prices could slam the brakes on sales of the gas-guzzlers, some analysts say.

"Some people say that until it gets over $3 (a gallon) it won't really matter," Gettelfinger told reporters on Friday, when asked how gas prices were affecting demand for Detroit's most profitable vehicles. "I think when the average person pulls up to the fuel pumps it does have an impact on them."

A union source said Gettelfinger has raised his concern about gas prices in talks with GM about the company's demand for union concessions on health care and other benefits to help the automaker return to profitability.

GM is preparing to roll out a new lineup of full-size trucks and SUVs as part of a turnaround plan. If the vehicles do poorly the world's largest automaker, which has lost $2.5 billion in North America so far this year, could find itself in an even deeper hole.

Gettelfinger did not elaborate on the impact of high fuel prices. But he said consumers had to make "a judgment call" when shopping for a new car or truck.

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"I drive a hybrid myself, a Ford Escape hybrid. I love it," he said.

The problem for Detroit and for the UAW, which celebrated its 70th anniversary on Friday, is that Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. seem to be leading the new age by getting a big head start in the hybrid market.

Toyota's Prius passenger car, first launched in Japan in 1997, is the most popular hybrid.

Hybrids burn less fuel by adding one or more electric motors to a conventional gasoline engine. Batteries help power the vehicles and recharge automatically by capturing energy during braking.

GM is working on hybrid technology with DaimlerChrysler, and it is developing a "two-mode" hybrid system, adapted from its transit bus hybrid already on the market in some U.S. cities. But GM's first widespread commercial use of the system won't be until late 2007 on its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs.