With their announced plans to assist the State of California in building a bio-enthanol fleet of vehicles and the combination of a high-powered advertising campaign and a new, ethanol-friendly 2007 Chevy Avalanche. General Motors posed an intriguing question:

Who needs hybrids when you’ve got corn?
According to General Motors, bio-ethanol – or more specifically, cars able to drive using either gasoline or a mixture of gasoline and ethanol – is a viable way to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. General Motors cites several of its vehicles as examples of the fuel’s effectiveness, especially its Saab 9-5 BioPower Concept, introduced at last month’s Los Angeles Auto Show, and the new 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche, which debuted at the recent Chicago Auto Show. The Saab 9-5 is equipped with a 2.3-liter turbo engine that produces 310 horsepower and 325 lb. ft. of torque – 25 percent more than a gas equivalent – and is able to accelerate to 60 mph in under six seconds. When powered by gasoline, GM says that performance times are significantly slower, and emissions are significantly higher. That’s some fast-moving corn, to be sure, and while the 9-5 Aero is a concept, Saab already is the first luxury automaker in Europe with a bio-ethanol model, its 9-5 2.0t BioPower production model, which went on sale in Europe last year. General Motors likes Ethanol as an alternative to gasoline because it’s a fuel source that would be virtually transparent to drivers, and is less costly than other methods of reducing oil consumption, such as the development and manufacture of a full hybrid powertrain for mass-produced cars, or the development of a hydrogen-based fuel cell systems.