Big Auto Attacks Big Oil: Automotive PR veteran Jason Vines, head of communications at Daimler Chrysler, tells reporters that he was speaking personally rather than on behalf of his employer when he wrote at theFirehouse blog (available to registered journalists only) that rising gas prices were a result of "greed by the big oil companies."

I guess it's possible that Vines' position is completely at odds with that of his employer, but I suspect his comments were prompted by an ExxonMobil ad which blamed rising gas prices on the auto industry's insistence on producing more and more gas guzzling monster trucks.

Still, the spat is likely to provide much entertainment. When was the last time you saw a spokesman for one industry go after another industry like this: "Big Oil would rather fill the pockets of its executives and shareholders, rather than spend sufficient amounts to reduce the price of fuel, letting consumers, during tough economic times, pick up the tab....

"Despite a documented history of blowing their exorbitant profits on outlandish executive salaries and stock buybacks, and hoarding their bounty by avoiding technologies, policies and legislation that would protect the population and environment and lower fuel costs, Big Oil insists on transferring all of that responsibility on the auto companies."

More fun to come, surely.