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Toyota, Friend or Foe?

October 15th, 2007 by Vihar Sheth
Posted in Transportation

Today I received an email from my friends at NRDC Action Fund asking me to write to Toyota. Here’s the email they sent me:

Dear Vihar,

     The same car company that put the world’s best-selling hybrid on the road is now asking Congress to drive America’s energy future into a brick wall.
     Toyota has sold more than one million Prius hybrids to environmentally conscious consumers who want to do the right thing for our planet.
     But, incredibly, the company is now forsaking us by opposing the first guaranteed improvement in U.S. fuel economy standards in nearly 20 years!
     Please tell Toyota to get back in gear by supporting a measure that guarantees a fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for cars and light trucks.
     Congress is negotiating an energy bill right now that could do just that — and save America 1.2 million barrels of oil each day by 2020, more than we import from Saudi Arabia.
     But the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — the powerful lobbying group that includes Toyota — is claiming that a 35 m.p.g. average for cars and trucks is “unattainable.”
     Go tell the maker of the 50-m.p.g. Prius to get out of reverse!

Thank you for taking action to reduce America’s dangerous dependence on oil.

Sincerely,

[signature]

Frances Beinecke
President
NRDC Action Fund

P.S. If you’re a Prius owner or are thinking of buying one, please be sure to say so in your online message to Toyota.

So, dutifully, I clicked on the link and filled out the webpage, which sent this form letter into Toyota:

Shigeru Hayakawa, President and CEO
Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
9 West 57th St., Suite 4900
New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Hayakawa,

     I am appalled that Toyota is opposing a guaranteed increase in fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. If your company is serious about satisfying consumers and fighting America’s addiction to oil, it’s time for your lobbying to match your advertising rhetoric.
     Toyota’s ads paint the company as the greenest, most fuel-efficient car company on the market. If that’s the case, why is Toyota an active member of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington lobbying group that claims that a sensible 35 m.p.g. standard is “unattainable”?
     Americans who love the Prius bought the message that Toyota is a leader in the field. But your current lobbying activities threaten to paint you as no different than any other gas-guzzling auto company.
     I urge you to back up your green image by calling for a guaranteed 35 m.p.g. standard by 2020 that allows for continuous improvement after 2020. And I call on you to withdraw Toyota from any lobbying association that opposes a guaranteed 35 m.p.g. standard.

Bam! Normally a company or government official auto-replies with a note thanking you for contacting them, and not much else. Toyota responded with this:

     Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. regarding your concerns with Toyota’s position on federally mandated fuel economy increases.
     We share your interest in strengthening automotive fuel economy and, in fact, are actively lobbying for a significant increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE). Any assertion by anyone or any one website or blog that we are doing otherwise, is simply not true.
     There are various bills before Congress that would mandate new CAFE targets by 2020 and require both cars and trucks to meet that standard. At Toyota, we favor proposed legislation known as H.R. 2927, the Hill-Terry bill. This measure is aggressive and calls for increases in CAFE by as much as 40% by 2022. Although this won’t be easy, we believe it is achievable. The bill maintains separate categories for cars and trucks.

Please also note the following:
  - Toyota has always exceeded federal fuel economy requirements, and our passenger car line-up has the highest CAFE rating in the automotive industry.
  - Toyota is the only major automaker to consistently improve global warming performance since 2001, thanks to hybrids and better conventional technology.*
  - We’re totally committed to ongoing improvement of fuel economy and emissions in all of our vehicles. In fact, our commitment to this is so deep, we spend $23 million every day on green initiatives and research.

     We are continuously striving to improve our fuel economy, regardless of federal mandates.
     So please understand that we, too, strongly support increased fuel economy standards. It’s the right thing to do-and, we hope that we’ve been able to provide a little more insight into our environmental commitments and actions.
     To learn more, please visit our corporate blog and see our recent posts regarding this topic at http://blog.toyota.com/2007/10/post.html and at http://blog.toyota.com/2007/09/irvs-sheet-a-ca.html.

Thank you for your interest in Toyota and the environment.

Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
Corporate Communications
toyota_corp_comm@toyota.com

So, is Toyota supporting more comprehensive and restrictive CAFE Standards reform bill because it’s better for the planet or because it has a smaller chance of passing? Seems to me that a company that brought the world cars like the Echo and Prius wouldn’t half-ass this type of effort. But, companies are in business to make money and increase shareholder value, and I’m fairly certain Toyota’s made more money off of Tundras and Highlanders than it has off of their hybrid lines. Only time will tell what becomes of all of this.

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