Toyota, a Bad Guy?

[The General]

I would like everyone to read this and give me their opinion.


BY SARAH A. WEBSTER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


"Is Toyota a wolf in sheep's clothing?"

That's what a stinging national ad campaign against Toyota Motor Corp., launched today by a San Francisco-based environmental group, suggests. The ad is to run in Mother Jones online today and be printed soon in full-page ads in the New York Times and other publications.

Created by the Bluewater Network, a nonprofit organization that fights for clean air and water, the ads against Toyota are thought to be the first ever to attack a Japanese automaker on its environmental record in the United States.

Bluewater says Toyota's hybrids aren't as efficient as their non-hybrid versions and questions why the automaker is fighting tougher standards on fuel economy and emissions. They also note that while Toyota's overall fuel economy is the best in the industry, it is worse than it was 20 years ago, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Toyota spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell said the automaker is disappointed by the campaign.

"Toyota is definitely the environmental leader, and we're extremely surprised," she said.

Bluewater is the same environmental group that launched a personal ad campaign against Ford Motor Co. last year, portraying Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford as Pinocchio and challenging the automaker's record on environmental issues.

Those ads, according to Bluewater, were largely a consequence of Ford portraying himself as an environmentalist, making promises and not keeping them.

Now, Bluewater is taking on Toyota.

"We don't enjoy playing the truth squad," Danielle Fugere, director of climate change at Bluewater, said. "But when the auto industry misleads the public, whether intentionally or not, someone's got to set the record straight."

The ads against Toyota are likely to be heralded by Detroit automakers, which have been crying foul for years now over Toyota's seemingly bulletproof image with consumers as the environmentally friendly automaker.

Toyota makes one-third of the hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles sold in the United States and has consequently benefited from Earth-friendly buzz -- even getting A-list celebrities to arrive at the Academy Awards in hybrid Prius compact cars as an environmentally conscious fashion statement.

But Bluewater's ads, which were obtained by the Free Press last week, show Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe in the foreground and a man wearing a wolf head in the background. The ads list a series of concerns about Toyota.

Foremost, the group questions why Toyota's newest hybrids don't get much better fuel economy than their non-hybrid versions.

The hybrid version of the Highlander got only 20.6 miles per gallon in a week-long test drive this year on a range of driving conditions by Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan. The EPA rating shows the vehicle gets 33 m.p.g. city/28 m.p.g. highway in federal tests. The non-hybrid Highlander, meanwhile, was rated 19 m.p.g. city/25 m.p.g. highway by the EPA -- much closer to the actual results in the hybrid.

Other journalists have found similar results, Bluewater notes in its ad, calling the Highlander and Lexus RX 400h "gas guzzlers with no better fuel economy than their non-hybrid versions."

"If this is the precedent for Toyota's future hybrids, that will be bad news for global warming and our dependence on foreign oil," the ad says.

Hubbell of Toyota defended the company's hybrid vehicles, saying they are more efficient than their gasoline counterparts. What's more, she said they are 80% cleaner in emissions.

Bluewater also asks why Toyota is working with other automakers to resist federal efforts to raise national fuel mileage standards and suing to block California's proposed regulations to reduce smog and greenhouse gas pollution.

Hubbell said Toyota is lobbying for regulations that are "rational and national," to avoid a patchwork system of standards "that would be a nightmare" to comply with for manufacturers.

The ads also note that the average fuel mileage of Toyota vehicles is worse today than it was 20 years ago, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2005 Fuel Economy Trends report. In 2005, Toyota's fleet averaged 27.5 miles per gallon, the highest among manufacturers. But the company performed better in 1985, with its fleet averaging 30.0 miles per gallon, the EPA report shows.

While Toyota has a stable of fuel-efficient cars, including the hybrid Prius, it also makes the Land Cruiser SUV (17 m.p.g. on the highway); Sequoia SUV (18 m.p.g.); 4Runner SUV (21 m.p.g.), and Tundra Double Cab (18 m.p.g.). Those vehicles have helped lower Toyota's overall fuel economy.

"Toyota has a lot of explaining to do," Bluewater's ads say. "We thought Toyota cared about the environment. ... Is this the same company that brought us the hybrid Prius, claiming to be an environmental leader?"

The ads provide Toyota's telephone number and encourage consumers to call and ask Toyota to "build more fuel-efficient cars and end Toyota's opposition to critical U.S. environmental policies."


I won't say anything for now but I can't wait to read your thoughts.

[snoproblem]

Toyota has been getting the benefit of misplaced assumptions by the buying public, this is true. Some of their models are every bit the fuel-sucker as others in their class, also true. That is the bone that the writers of "Autoextremist.com" have been gnawing on, exhaustively, for some time... to the point of tediousness and beyond.

They all managed to completely miss the point.

"All right, oh snowy one, what is the point?", you might ask. Toyota offered us a choice. At a time when all the US makers seemed perfectly content to foist one gas guzzler after another at us (especially Ford), Toyota made vehicles available that were far more efficient, with better quality to boot. Toyota Hybrids raised the stakes even higher. Response of The Big Three, for quite some time? Sour grapes, in the form of one SUV dinosaur after another, which was both stupid and insulting.

To suggest that Toyota is the devil incarnate because they dare produce vehicles that consume a lot of fuel which, by the way, compete directly and well against traditional US market niches, is both disingenuous and myopic... and downright convenient.

That's my point.

[The General]

So far, so good...

Anyone else?

[amorak]

Stupid, stupid hippies...

Of course Toyota will have fuel economy "worse than it was 20 years ago". The market demands SUVs and bigger engines, and Toyota sold ONE TRUCK 20 years ago, now they have what, 6 or 7 SUVs and trucks?

Stupid, stupid hippies...

[The General]

Originally Posted by amorak

Stupid, stupid hippies...

Of course Toyota will have fuel economy "worse than it was 20 years ago". The market demands SUVs and bigger engines, and Toyota sold ONE TRUCK 20 years ago, now they have what, 6 or 7 SUVs and trucks?

Stupid, stupid hippies...

So, I'm not the only one to whom this seems obvious...

I want to read more comments! C'mon guys and gals.

[deeker]

Personally, these environmentalist groups do litle for me. I guess they just seem a bit too extreme in their approach. I appreciate the information they are passing along... sometimes.

What about the Echo, sorry - Yaris? I see more of them than Sequoias.

[The General]

Originally Posted by deeker

What about the Echo, sorry - Yaris? I see more of them than Sequoias.

Can you imagine if the average fuel consumption was measured this way?!

Holy Crap would Ford and GM sink!!! That's crazy!

[mstudli]

Isn't it obvious! 20 years ago we were all driving small little cars with 3 cylinders and maybe 50 horsepower under the hood. Nowadays the demand for cars with more pep and power to get up to speed is necessary! If it wasn't for the american car manufacturers with the big V-8's that are no better than they were 50 years ago... a good example is the mustang! there is simply no advances in performance, still v-8's and gaz guzzlers, again the jeep, same frame and engine as 20 years ago! No offence to the drivers of these cars, they are great cars, however the Japanese and south korean markets will soon (if not already) run these models to the ground! Why can't we be like europe all driving little cars and making the best of it, (better not driving at all get those hippies to get another means of transportation teleportation perhaps...)

life's a garden dig it!

[Crash]

Maybe another reason for our crazy fuel consumption is that in N. America we want "all the toys" (or at least that's what the manufacturers tell us). In Europe, you can still buy a Jaguar with wind up windows, stick shift with no A/C.

On a recent BBC TopGear show they quoted that although the first Golf GTi came out in the 70's, the current model is heavier, slower 0-60 mph and burns more fuel than the original.

It all boils down to power to weight, so if we keep loading cars with everything including the kitchen sink we're not going improve fuel economy figures that much.

Ok fair enough, the kitchen sink is maybe pushing it a bit but I recently did a review on a car with a "cooled" glovebox, Oh yeah, no more melted Mars bars but don't you think that it's all going a little OTT!

[apl16]

crash.....i must agree. cars get less efficient and more powerful. more useless crap to break.navigation.....if ya can't read a map you shouldn't be allowed a license. moisture sensors for wipers.....if you can't figure out when to use your wipers....well?
perhaps its time to import logans.