You've moaned about high gas prices, and the world's automakers have heard you.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month (yes, there is an auto show in the middle of winter in Detroit), the emphasis was definitely on fuel efficiency.

Just about everywhere I turned during the show's three-day media preview, there was a new green concept, hybrid or diesel being announced. I guess it's about time now that the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is just more than $3, according to my last check of AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Toyota, the company that redefined the hybrid marketplace with its popular Prius, said in Detroit that it has two new hybrids in the pipeline — one of them a Lexus. The company also said a diesel Tundra was on its way and showed off a hybrid concept pickup its designers and engineers have been working on for more than a year.

Ford unveiled its latest F-150 and promised an EcoBoost engine capable of lifting fuel efficiency by 20 percent in the next few years. The engine uses turbocharging and direct injection technology to boost fuel efficiency, the company said.

Chrysler showed off a tiny diesel/electric Jeep concept it estimates could get up to 100 miles per gallon.

General Motors offered up a new plug-in hybrid concept Saturn. It also showed off a Saturn Vue two-mode hybrid that is supposed to boost fuel efficiency by 50 percent.

These efforts, and the efforts of those automakers I haven't mentioned, should come as good news to consumers sick of paying $40 to $50 or more to fill their gas tanks. But it's not all about us.

Government regulations that Congress approved a few weeks ago mean automaker fleets have to average 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Not every vehicle has to get that many miles per gallon, but it's going to take a lot of high-mileage vehicles to balance out some of those low-mileage behemoths out there.

Automakers this year also are facing their worst sales forecast in a decade. This year, auto giants in the U.S. are expected to sell fewer than 16 million vehicles, even by optimistic estimates. That means they're going to have to do more to woo consumers, even if that means moving gas guzzlers out of showrooms to make way for greener vehicles.

Whatever automakers' motivations, more fuel-efficient vehicles are a good thing for consumers.

Too bad reaping the benefits of a more fuel-efficient vehicle means having to invest in a new ride.

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