To: Richard Wagoner Jr., Chairman and CEO, General Motors
Prof. Jürgen E. Schrempp, President, DaimlerChrysler Corporation
Rich Gilligan, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Motors North America
Tom Purves, Chairman and CEO, BMW Group
Hisakazu Imaki, President and CEO, Mazda
William C. Ford, Chair, Board of Directors, Ford Motor Company
Hideaki Otaka, President and CEO, Toyota Motor North America
Wendelin Wiedeking, President and CEO, Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
Gerd Klauss, President and CEO, Volkswagen of America
c/o Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
I, like a great many consumers around the nation, have been waiting for real clean car choices. Now, California's breakthrough regulations on global warming emissions will allow your talented engineers to use cost-effective, off-the-shelf technologies to provide cleaner vehicles in all size classes. But instead, you have chosen to unleash your lawyers to thwart consumer choice and ignore the potential profits and jobs from the growing clean car market.
It is time for you to live up to the promise of your environmental marketing campaigns. "Green" slogans and the limited introduction of hybrid vehicles cannot replace a fleet-wide commitment to cleaner vehicles. It is not too late to step away from this public relations disaster and invest these resources in your talented engineers to meet the burgeoning national and international demand for cleaner vehicles in all makes and sizes.
Carbon dioxide from passenger vehicles will increase 50 percent by 2020 if you and other automakers don't clean up our nation's vehicle fleets. It is environmentally and financially irresponsible to postpone action. As I make my next vehicle purchase, I will consider which automakers sued to block my access to cleaner cars. I therefore expect your immediate withdrawal from this anti-consumer lawsuit that damages both the environment and the public's health.
Sincerely,
[Your name]