Only by pursuing all alternative-fuel technologies on the table, including bio-fuels, can vehicle manufacturers meet new emissions and fuel economy targets, and the burden for this research is increasingly being placed on suppliers, reported SupplierBusiness.com yesterday, on the recent SAE World Congress in the US. At the recent SAE convention Donald Walker, co-CEO of Magna International Inc., claimed that suppliers¡¯ share of total R&D or vehicle development will jump from 40% today to 60% by 2012.

Expanding development responsibilities come as automakers look for suppliers to provide entire systems, be it a complete interior or drivetrain, rather than just individual components. The more systems a supplier takes on, the greater its responsibility to make them as energy efficient as possible.

The knock on effect of this is that only suppliers offering advanced technology will prosper, whilst others will fall by the wayside. "There will be fewer pieces of the business to bid on, so the supply chain is going to shrink" Walker said. "Some suppliers will prosper and others will go out of business."

A recent survey by the SAE suggested that that environmental issues and the new fuel US CAFE standards, are now the biggest issue to the auto industry; bigger even than costs.

As deadlines to chase down emissions targets close in, the intensifying debate over bio-fuels' economic and environmental impact is seen by some in the automotive sector as an annoying roadblock, and has provoked, in certain quarters, outspoken irritation; SupplierBusiness.com quotes GM chairman Richard Wagoner¡¯s remarks last week criticizing a UN official¡¯s claim that biofuels were to blame for the recent rise in food prices.