Practise What You Preach

IT'S NO SURPRISE that the people at the top of the world's biggest automotive firms drive some fairly expensive and environmentally reprehensible vehicles.

But perhaps the last place you would expect to see this sort of purchasing behaviour would be the companies' hybrid divisions.

Whilst for some manufacturers, there are no real surprises - Shinichi Abe, hybrid guru at Toyota drives a Lexus RX400h (hybrid) - for others, the findings are almost embarrassing.

Some are more forgivable than others. For example, Wolfgang Epple, Vice-President of hybrid technology at BMW, drives a BMW X5 and General Motors' hybrid chief, Larry Nitz, drives a Cadillac SRX - although this is hardly mother nature's favourite creature.

However, the two worst offenders have to be Andreas Truckenbrodt of DaimlerChrysler and Nancy Gioia of Ford. Whilst the head of the DaimlerChrysler development centre drives around in a massively uneconomical HEMI-powered Dodge Magnum, the head honcho of hybrids at Ford has opted for a V8-engined Thunderbird (at least she's showing brand loyalty) and a somewhat gargantuan Lincoln Navigator - maybe she needs it for load lugging, or perhaps some dogs...

A pleasant surprise was to learn that whilst Akira Fujimura, Honda's senior researcher, appears to have two cars to his name, one is a Fit (essentially a Honda Jazz) and the other is a similarly compact Honda SM-X.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of celebrity-bashing about hybrids, particularly in the USA. Like having the latest Louis Vuitton handbag, it seems like if you don't rock-up to your latest film premier in a Toyota Prius, you should probably get the chauffeur to turn around and drive you home.

Nevertheless, there are a few stand-out exceptions. The actress, Alexandra Paul, drives an electric Toyota RAV4 and is passionate about electric vehicles generally, as she proved by blockading an impound full of General Motors' EV1 electric car, at the time when the company was attempting to crush all of them. For more on that story, it's worth seeing the recent film: 'Who Killed The Electric Car?'.

Leonardo DiCaprio professes to only drive a Prius rather than owning one simply as a token occasional motor that can be mentioned in magazine interviews. In addition, he has produced films on the environment and genuinely appears not only to be concerned about the issues, but also seems to be willing to do something about them.

Conversely, celebrity campaigner Ewan McGregor, who admittedly has done some outstanding work for a number of excellent causes, has a hybrid that shares a garage with a fairly thirsty 1965 Ford Mustang. Britain's very own proponent of all things organic, Prince Charles, who has apparently committed to offset all his carbon emissions is also the proud owner of an Audi RS6. Royal hypocrisy if ever I've seen it...