Jason Vines, vice president for communications at DaimlerChrysler’s (DCX) Chrysler Group, blasted the oil industry on the company blog www.thefirehouse.biz that is available to journalists and analysts.
“Big Oil would rather fill the pockets of its executives and shareholders, rather than spend sufficient amounts to reduce the price of fuel, letting consumers, during tough economic times, pick up the tab,” Vines wrote Monday.
“Despite a documented history of blowing their exorbitant profits on outlandish executive salaries and stock buybacks, and hoarding their bounty by avoiding technologies, policies and legislation that would protect the population and environment and lower fuel costs, Big Oil insists on transferring all of that responsibility on the auto companies,” he wrote.
The American Petroleum Institute issued a statement Tuesday, saying, “We assume this individual speaks solely for himself and not for DaimlerChrysler or for the auto industry.”
Vines’ blog entry referred to a print ad by ExxonMobil (XOM) that said many segments of the U.S. economy had become much more fuel-efficient since the first oil shock. “So why is … the average fuel economy of American cars unchanged in two decades?” the ad asked.
ExxonMobil spokeswoman Prem Nair told The Detroit News that the company stood by its ad.
Source: The Associated Press
