New electric Hummer lights up car enthusiast Biden

[DETROIT] New vehicle: GM's all-electric Hummer. Test driver: President Joe Biden.

"These suckers are something else!" Biden said on Wednesday after burning rubber at the General Motors factory in Detroit, where he was promoting a huge new national infrastructure investment package.

In a speech to several hundred factory workers, Biden recounted his lifelong love of automobiles, saying he "was raised on cars."

He reminisced about his prized 1967 Corvette Stingray, saying how he'd always thought the sports car was "the hell's bells", doing zero to 60 in 5.3 seconds.

Glancing at a row of parked Hummers, he said in awe: "This truck, three times heavier - zero to 60 in three seconds!" Biden praised General Motors CEO Mary Barra for her push to end non-electric vehicle manufacturing at the auto giant by 2035.

"You changed the whole story, Mary," he said. "You're going to be setting the pace."

Biden was making his latest pitch on what the administration says will be a concerted campaign by the president and officials to sell Americans on the US$1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill that took effect on Monday.

Biden said the investment, which will include building of a national network of electric vehicle charging stations, puts the United States back ahead, when "up until now, China's been leading in this race."

AFP