ASHINGTON - With high gasoline prices serving as a backdrop, Vice President Al Gore announced yesterday that the Big Three automakers have agreed to mass produce vehicles with significant improvements in gas mileage within four years.
The vehicles will have hybrid electric-gas engines, a concept the automakers have been working on through the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, a government-industry initiative started in 1993.
''For the first time, we look forward to a date when remarkable new technologies will be moving from research labs to showrooms and dealerships across the country,'' said Gore, who did not specify how much better the mileage would be or how many of the vehicles would be produced.
Gore also got his first look at high-mileage test cars built by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler AG.
Through the partnership, the Clinton administration challenged automakers to develop a family-size sedan that gets at least 80 miles per gallon by 2004. None of the concept cars reached that goal, but automakers say they show that the benchmark is reachable.
Gore said the US auto industry leads the world and the partnership can help it stay on top. He also urged Congress to extend the $4,000 tax credit now given to purchasers of electric cars.
''I believe we have to use this moment to make the investment that will keep our progress and prosperity going far into the future,'' Gore said.
''By reducing our dependence on foreign oil, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and by positioning the American auto industry as the world leader in a crucial new market in this new economy, the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles can help to keep our economic engine humming for decades to come.''
