GENEVA (AP):

The global auto industry is experiencing a green revolution, convinced that lower emissions and hybrid engines could turn eco-minded drivers into long-term customers. At the Geneva Motor Show, where hundreds of cars - big and fast, small and slow - are on display, the concept of going green is taking root in ways that automakers hope will ensure less pollution, but more purchases.

German carmakers, sometimes criticised for their larger, more gas-consuming vehicles, took the opportunity to highlight their involvement developing hybrid engines and show off emission-control technology.

DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit put its BLUETEC technology on prime view, detailing how a 170-horsepower engine can be powered with just 5.5 litres of diesel fuel per 100 kilometres, in part because of energy management techniques.

BMW AG and DaimlerChrysler have linked up to work on new engine technology by developing hybridengine components. Thomas Weber, an executive board member with DaimlerChrysler, said the Mercedes-Benz unit is set to launch its first hybrid car in 2009.

"We'll launch a hybrid model for our Dodge brand in 2008, and the first Mercedes-Benz brand hybrid will come in 2009," he told reporters, but did not specify which models they would be.

Diesel Power

BMW also pointed to its involvement with General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler in working on new advanced hybrid engines and its own work on hydrogen power, which is nevertheless still a long way from being made available to buyers. "BMW has been leading the way regarding efficient diesel engines for many years," BMW Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said Monday.

Diesel engines produce less CO2 emissions, but contribute more nitrates, which are harmful to the environment. Hybrid engines, which derive their power from an electric motor as well as a gas-power transmission, produce less CO2 and less nitrates.

As it moves to combat global warming, the European Union has set a goal of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre per vehicle by 2012, down from around 163 grams per kilometre on average now.

Fuel Cells

General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner said the drive for better, cleaner fuels and power is getting faster. "We're going to move to ethanol. We're going to see more hybrids," he said. "Eventually, we're going to see fuel cells." Fuel cell vehicles run on the power produced when oxygen in the air combines with hydrogen that's stored in the fuel tank - producing only harmless water vapour.

BMW is keen on fuel cells, too, citing hydrogen as the best sustainable solution for such power, as are DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co. and MAN AG, which last year along with energy companies Shell Hydrogen BV and Total France, announced a joint project to advance the use of hydrogen as a fuel for trucks in Europe.

But Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., viewed as a pioneer because of its Prius hybrid that blends gas-power with electricity, has a hold of the star when it comes to hybrids. It showed off its Hybrid X, a four-door, four-seat concept car powered by the Hybrid Synergy Drive that is low to the ground and evocative of something in a Japanese manga comic.

Toyota said that sales of its current Prius line-up is expected to reach more than 1 billion sometime after 2010. Masatami Takimoto, the executive in charge of research and development for the world's second-biggest car maker by sales, said the company is looking a range of engines, including more efficient gas and diesel engines, hybrid technologies along with fuel cells and electric power.

Even its luxury unit, Lexus, uses the technology, expecting to sell 45,000 Lexus 450h hybrids this year.

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