Brown said the president needed to be firm with the domestic auto industry, instead of making excuses for its failure to make the kind of fuel-efficient cars that can compete with Asian and European models.
"Bush has been trying to protect the automobile companies, and it still hasn't worked. They're losing money, and they are in trouble," he said.
He predicted that U.S. automakers could be forced to seek a financial bailout from the federal government if they continue to make cars that don't appeal to American buyers.
A spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington, which represents the three largest U.S. automakers, declined to comment on Brown's charges of the fuel-economy lawsuit.
Brown's suit over mileage standards, filed by his predecessor in November, is one of two dealing with climate change. Another measure, filed last year by then-Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, seeks damages from automakers for the alleged effects of global warming, including drought, melting snowpacks and rising ocean levels.
Automakers, meanwhile, are suing California in U.S. District Court in Fresno, arguing that the state has no authority under a 2002 law to regulate auto tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
marc.lifsher@latimes.com
