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During a 2007 trip to Detroit, Michigan, home of the motor vehicle, the current US President-elect managed to silence an audience of representatives from some of America's largest auto-makers, with the words: "Today there are two kinds of car companies: those that mass-produce fuel-efficient cars; and those that will."

At the time the US motor industry was relatively unimpressed by Senator Obama, which is perhaps unsurprising given the laissez-faire attitude of George Bush's administration to issues of vehicle fuel-efficiency and carbon emissions. However, the deepening crisis in American manufacturing, coupled with Obama's election, has left car makers both economically exposed and politically vulnerable to the future President's environmental resolve.

Obama's campaign promised the implementation of a strategy that would reduce America's consumption of oil "by more than it currently imports from the Middle East and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela combined", which indicates that much work lies ahead for the US auto industry.

His plans, as outlined on www.barackobama.com, include: an increase in fuel-economy standards by 4 per cent each year leading to savings of nearly a half a trillion gallons of gasoline and 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases; development of advanced vehicles, with a specific focus on research and development into advanced battery technology; and a promise to put one million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015, through increases in federal funding and the provision of a $7,000 tax credit for individuals purchasing advanced technologies.

His programme also includes mandating that all new vehicles have fuel-flex capability (by the end of his first term in office) in order to take advantage of developments in alternative fuels; developing the next generation of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, biobutenol and other synthetic petroleum products; and establishing a new low-carbon fuel standard, which will require suppliers (from 2010) to reduce the carbon content of their fuel with a 10% reduction being required by 2020.

Changes of this magnitude, however, will come at a cost. Obama's plans form part of a wider strategy for emissions reduction and will be funded in large part by his pledge of $150 billion over 10 years to develop America's low-carbon economy.

Obama's campaign promise to the auto-industry was $4 billion worth of `retooling` tax credits and loans guarantees to allow manufacturers to develop plants and parts for new fuel-efficient models. Although, as the financial crisis worsens and manufacturing giants such as General Motors teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, it is likely this figure will become part of a larger 'bail-out' package of $25 - 50 billion.

Some have suggested that car makers, who have continually blocked and evaded fuel-efficiency legislation, are unlikely to take issues of fuel economy seriously and as such should be left to fight for themselves amidst financial meltdown. Recent moves by Ford to introduce a new line for 2009, which will manufacture a three-ton, 16-miles-per-gallon truck, may perhaps provide credence to the view.

Acknowledging the trend, Obama, said: "The technology exists to do it, what has been lacking is the sense of political will and urgency... and the automakers have all too often blocked the kind of progress that needs to happen."

Far from abandoning the auto industry however, his policy has been to push for greater levels of support to stimulate economic growth and to ensure that the auto manufacturers - upon whom one in every ten American jobs is reliant - stay afloat amongst the turmoil. Crucially though his environmental objectives are closely aligned with his economic policies and he is seeking the stimulation of `green growth` in the economy.

Obama is currently advocating the creation of a czar or board to oversee loans to auto makers, in a move which would provide a platform upon which he could begin to shape his vision of the motor industry, and upon which he could exercise a level of control over the uses of federal funding.

Green groups are generally in support of this view and recognise that plans are likely to bring with them regulatory systems which will help cut carbon dioxide emissions. "It's about connecting the dots between energy, the environment and the economy, and President-elect Obama made that clear," said Sierra Club political director Cathy Duvall, "It will help [the US] economy recover, and it will also help [the] environment recover."