Probably the most interesting factoid in the movie is that, during the 90's, the U.S. administration invested maybe a billion dollars on R&D for the Big-3 automakers to develop hybrid drivetrains. This freaked out the Japanese enough that Honda and Toyota started their own efforts. What the Japanese didn't know is that the U.S. effort was all show and no go, and now look at who's selling all the hybrids.