At an event dedicated to the glory of burning it, and in the shadow of Toyota's new, full-size truck, Toyota Motor Sales USA president Jim Press kicked off the 2006 Chicago Auto Show by talking about reducing the one thing all vehicles can't live without: oil, and what to do about the earth’s shrinking oil reserves.
The answer, at least during day one of the show, was to keep doing it, as many automakers introduced oil-burning, asphalt-cracklin' performance cars based on regular production models. There was the 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan, which made all enthusiasts over 34 happy, and the 2007 Dodge Caliber SRT 4, which made all enthusiasts under 34 happy. There were also two Mercedes-Benz AMG models, the R63 AMG and the ML 63 AMG, for the well-heeled wealthy (young or old) among us.
There was also talk about burning corn, mostly from General Motors, as they debuted an ethanol-compatible Chevrolet Avalanche. The Avalanche will run on E85, which is a mixture of gas and ethanol.
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