AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AutoNation, Inc.
(NYSE: AN), America's largest automotive retailer, has joined the Plug-In
Partners campaign calling on automakers to manufacture plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles.
"The development of plug-in hybrids could reduce America's addiction to
oil," said AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson. "These new hybrids would offer
consumers a 50-mile all-electric range, get the equivalent of 100 miles per
gallon, be fully recharged at night and deliver all the performance and
comfort of traditional gasoline-powered vehicles without the damaging
emissions. We believe Americans will buy these vehicles, which is why we
want to sell them."
The Plug-In Partners campaign, launched in January 2006 by the City of
Austin and Austin Energy, has attracted nearly 60 cities and counties,
including Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, San
Francisco, Baltimore and Phoenix, as well as dozens of environmental,
national security organizations, business and utility partners. The
coalition is working with its partners to generate "soft" fleet orders to
demonstrate the potential market for plug-in hybrid vehicles. It also has
begun a nationwide petition drive for individual consumers to express their
support and interest in buying a plug-in hybrid vehicle.
Austin Mayor Will Wynn said: "AutoNation's support of the Plug-In
Partners campaign demonstrates the growing momentum for the manufacturing
of plug-in hybrids. Mike Jackson certainly knows what type of vehicles that
Americans will buy. We salute his commitment to help us reduce this
country's dependence on foreign oil and decrease greenhouse gas emission
while also lowering fuel costs for consumers."
Contrasting plug-in hybrids to the limited range of earlier electric
vehicles, Jackson added, "Next-generation batteries are significantly more
powerful and can tolerate discharging and charging much more forgivingly
than earlier versions. That opens up the possibility of creating a vehicle
that will deliver genuine benefits to consumers and society."
Additional information about the campaign is available at
http://www.pluginpartners.org.
About AutoNation, Inc.
AutoNation, Inc., headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is America's
largest automotive retailer and a component of the Standard and Poor's 500
Index. AutoNation has approximately 27,000 full-time employees and owns and
operates 333 new vehicle franchises in 16 states. For additional
information, please visit http://corp.AutoNation.com or http://www.AutoNation.com,
where more than 100,000 vehicles are available for sale.
SOURCE AutoNation, Inc.
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Related links:
http://corp.autonation.com
http://www.pluginpartners.org http://www.AutoNation.com
Photo Notes:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001017/AUTONATIONLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/750525.html/
CONTACT:
Marc Cannon of AutoNation, Inc.,
+1-954-769-3146, or cannonm@autonation.com
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