Chrysler dodges green issue

The American auto industry's commitment to saving the planet occasionally appears to be somewhat less than unconditional. If its head is ostensibly turning green, its heart still pumps red, white and blue gasoline.

At Detroit's Auto Show, which opened to the public last weekend, every major manufacturer's stand was dominated - as we have come to expect - by concept cars and future models which trumpet their maker's environmentalist credentials.

The most telling press launch of the show, however, was laid

on by Chrysler who drove a herd of longhorn cattle through the streets around the exhibition hall to kick up a hullabaloo over the new Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck.

The animals themselves made a gob-smacking spectacle, especially when they tried to mount each other during the speech of Chrysler's Jim Press. At one point, he was reduced to yelling, "Okay, can we look at the truck!" - which turned out to be an even more extraordinary