Car Convert

I nearly choked on my toast Thursday morning when I heard Lee Iacocca tell NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep that the American auto industry needs "to learn to build more small cars, good fuel-efficient cars."

The guy who brought Chrysler back from the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1980's admitted to fighting high fuel-efficiency standards in the past. But now he's hot for hybrids. "I've become a real fan in the last year of plug-in hybrids, hybrids that can be plugged in at night," he said. "I think that's the wave of the next five years, big time: Plug-in hybrids."

Well blow me down.

The coup de grace was when Inskeep asked him what turned him around in his thinking about cars. Said Iacocca:

I hate to admit it--Al Gore did. I used to think he was nutty. He stuck with his principles, though. He'll be remembered for triggering a real look at what we're doing to the planet."

Thus I started my day with toast and a side of hope.