Aides to (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) say he will sign legislation approved on Thursday that could allow up to 75,000 hybrid drivers, mainly those behind the wheel of a gas-sipping Prius, to use car pool lanes even when taking to the road alone. The governor hopes the perk will encourage more people to buy the cleaner-burning cars, but by doing so, he will give the Japanese-made Prius vaunted status in a state where nearly 30 million registered vehicles compete for every inch of open asphalt.

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“What Bill Ford ought to be doing is spending his time figuring out how to out-compete the Japanese,” Mr. Angelides said. “The bill has objective standards, and any car company, including Ford, could produce a clean-burning, fuel-efficient hybrid that meets the standards.”

The Honda Insight and Civic Hybrid also meet the fuel effeciency standards.

So American car makers have fought tooth and nail to keep cafe standards from raising, and now they’re fighting to stop a rewards program for those who purchase fuel efficient vehicles.

As for Ford whining that the Escape hybrid doesn’t quality… at 31 mpg, my standard Corolla gets better gas mileage than that–we’re gotten 41 mpg on the interstate. So to call the Escape hybrid fuel efficent is a joke.

If people want to buy urban attack vehicles, they most certainly may, but those people can suck it up when gas prices go through the ceiling. I certainly don’t want to listen to their complaints, since their gas guzzling is only exacerbating the problem. So drive what you like, but you don’t get to drive an SUV and complain about gas prices when you knew your monstrosity got low mileage when you bought it,