Detroit, Mich. — The weather here and Arnold Schwarzenegger were the main pre-occuations during the second day of the Society of Auto Engineers annual convention, themed “The Race to Green Mobility.”

In January, the organizers of Detroit’s International Auto Show wrapped their event in green to impress Washington that they were serious about tackling global warming. Outside, temperatures hit a bone-chilling 12 degrees below zero. This week, the SAE has also preened green, inviting enviro-governors Jennifer Granholm and Schwarzenegger to the podium, while trumpeting its commitment to save the planet. Outside, spring temperatures dropped into the 30s and the sky hailed buckets.

If no one wanted to talk about the inconvenient weather, everyone was still buzzing about Schwarzenegger, who had jetted into Motown yesterday (on a plane guzzling 500 gallons of fuel an hour) to complain about Detroit gas-guzzlers.

In an interview with the Detroit News published today, the Governator — a collector of big SUVs and fast sports cars — said that “we should not villainize SUVs or villainize the Hummers or villainize the big cars, but we should villainize the old technology (gas-powered engines).” This from a governor who has refused to send a price signal to consumers by heavily taxing gasoline, but has instead villainized automakers by trying to impose a 42-mpg fuel-efficiency mandate.

Schwarzenegger’s staff was reluctant to say how the governor got around Detroit during his stay (though you can bet if he was driving a hybrid we would have known about it) but did disclose that his ride was a “flex-fuel Ford.” The only flex-fuel (ethanol-capable) vehicles Ford makes are its giant Expedition, Navigator, or F150 trucks, and its big Lincoln Town Car sedan — all solid sellers before $4-a-gallon gas and the current economic downturn.

Yet, in his News interview, Schwarzenegger insisted that “Detroit was asleep at the wheel” for producing these “status quo” vehicles. In fact, Schwarzenegger’s summation of the auto in America is representative of how spoiled Californians have become about the affordable, individual-transportation revolution Henry Ford introduced 100 years ago.

“For a century, Detroit has produced the most powerful cars,” he said. “But we now know this technology has made our world a more polluted world. The next 100 years should be about cleaning.”

Move over automakers. Sacramento pols have this auto thing all figured out.