Throughout Washington's deliberations on aid for the domestic automakers, Big Three executives were berated for missing the mark on fuel efficiency. The Big Three had problems on this issue before. But Detroit now spends $12 billion a year on alternative vehicle research. And General Motors has more models in showrooms this year that get 30 miles per gallon or better than any other carmaker in the world. The investment Detroit is making in fuel efficiency is paying off with the Fusion hybrid, which went into development three years ago -- long before gasoline prices soared and before Obama came to Detroit to lecture us about making small cars. The Fusion will best the Toyota Camry hybrid by 8 miles per gallon in the city. The Fusion is projected to get the second best fuel economy behind the current Toyota Prius, which is much smaller. Toyota has not released gas mileage figures on the 2010 update of the Prius. It would have been nice if the Fusion hybrid's gas mileage announcement had arrived in time to inform Washington's representatives and senators, who persist in defining Detroit's automakers as being stuck in the world of muscle cars and big trucks. It is often forgotten that Toyota and Honda build big trucks, sports cars and SUVs, too, along with their hybrids. Perhaps had members of Congress come to Detroit and looked inside the research labs of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, they would have seen the real story. Unfortunately, the politicians seemed to have their minds made up about the Big Three. The Fusion isn't the end of the road for Detroit's fuel efficiency innovations. The Chevy Volt promises to be the first marketable electric vehicle when it is scheduled to debut in 2010. All three automakers are working on technology that may revolutionize the internal combustion engine. This work has been underway for years, and the fruit will arrive on the market just as consumer tastes are shifting in response to uncertain gasoline prices. The new Fusion hybrid is a real success story of Detroit. Too bad it never got told in Washington.