Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met privately with seven auto executives over California’s attempt to impose strict emission rules, but let it be known publicly that he told the carmakers to stop whining and start producing.

The Republican governor met Thursday with the executives, who requested the get-together. In an interview afterward, he said he told them “the train has left the station” and that they should stop challenging California rules that are intended to help slow the rate of global warming.

“I said, ‘While you’re whining, you should be creating new technologies. That’s how you meet the date,” Schwarzenegger told The Associated Press after meeting with members of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

The trade group, whose members include General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC, Toyota Motor Corp., BMW AG and Volkswagen Group of America Inc., is pushing back against California rules designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are part of the state’s wider effort to address global warming.

California wants emissions to be cut by nearly one-third for all vehicles sold in the state by 2016. That’s four years earlier than similar emission rules proposed by the federal government.

Auto manufacturers say the California benchmark can’t be met on time, and they have successfully blocked them from taking effect for now.

It was the first time Schwarzenegger and auto executives have met after years of being at odds over California’s tailpipe rules.

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