Toyota’s environmental credentials are being challenged by pressure groups, headed by the Natural Resources Defence Council, which is questioning the automaker’s opposition to strict fuel economy standards pending in Congress, a position it shares with General Motors Corp, Ford and Chrysler.
Go deeper with GlobalData
According to the Associated Press (AP), about 8,300 NRDC activists have, in the past two weeks, sent e-mails and faxes to Toyota urging the company to support a Senate energy bill that would set a 35-mile-per-[smaller US] gallon requirement by 2020.
Other environmental groups, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists and the National Environmental Trust, are mobilising to challenge Toyota for supporting a more modest approach on so-called CAFE standards that would require 32 to 35 mpg by 2022, the news agency said.
“They have a green halo, justifiably, and yet unbeknownst to their customers they’ve joined forces with the Detroit Three to argue against greener standards,” Deron Lovaas, the NRDC’s vehicles campaign director, told the Associated Press (AP).
The report said that Toyota contends the Senate bill would hurt the industry and notes that the alternative still would raise the standards up to 40% and give automakers more time to meet the goals. The company reportedly said it would respond to the messages it receives.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalData“For the first time, the industry has actually come together for a fuel economy increase, and everyone is pulling together in the same direction,” Toyota spokeswoman Martha Voss told the Associated Press, adding: “Toyota is working very hard behind the scenes to achieve the best standards possible, not only for the whole industry, but to meet the energy and environmental goals that we all share.”
AP noted that Toyota, along with Honda, has been a front-runner in producing fuel-efficient vehicles while emphasising hybrid technology.
But the news agency added that the campaign underscores some discontent with the company in the environmental community, many of whom drive Prius hybrids, because Toyota is also challenging GM as the world’s biggest automaker and has aggressively promoted the Texas-built Tundra pickup in the lucrative large truck segment.
“They market every night the Prius and the Toyota Camry – we’re the green car, huh? Then watch the football games, and they’re marketing the Toyota Tundra – like the biggest vehicle ever made,” Massachusetts Democratic Representative Edward Markey, a Camry hybrid owner, said this week in a speech at an environmental conference.
“We’re actually going to name the vehicle the Tundra, after the thing that’s being destroyed in Alaska,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “How ironic.”
