Toyota: Moving Backward
Arkansas Toyota Owners Ask National Toyota to Tell Truth About Fuel Efficiency
Toyota’s Actions Don’t Match “Green” Image
Little Rock, AR – National Toyota, producer of the hybrid Prius and widely viewed as the carmaker of choice for eco-conscious consumers everywhere, got an earful from its target audience recently. Consumers gathered to voice questions about the company’s opposition to greater fuel efficiency standards for the auto sector in the United States. A new Web site TruthAboutToyota.com includes information about the real Corporate Toyota record, and gives Arkansas Toyota Prius owners – and potential owners – the chance to tell the company how they feel.
“In their advertisements, Toyota likes to say that global warming is the world’s most serious environmental issue,” said Don Richardson, Director of the Arkansas Climate Awareness Project. “But in the halls of Congress and in the nation’s courthouses, it sure doesn’t act that way. They’re working to overturn the first meaningful increase in U.S. fuel efficiency in 30 years, and they’re trying to defeat strong standards to limit global warming emissions. Toyota is saying one thing and doing another – and they should know better.”
However, distinct from national Toyota policies, local Toyota owners will also praise Caldwell Toyota-Scion in Conway who is showing leadership through the construction of their new “green” dealership. Last Friday they broke ground on the first public retail building in the state to be constructed using Leadership of Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification guidelines.
In June, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan compromise to increase fuel efficiency to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The Senate bill would reduce U.S. oil consumption by 1.2 million barrels per day – more than twice as much as is imported from Iraq every day. It would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 206 million metric tons per year by 2020.
“Senator Pryor should stand up to Toyota’s lobbyists in Washington and support American consumers by passing an energy bill that increases fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020,” said Richardson.
The National Academy of Sciences has found that a stronger fuel efficiency standard is achievable even with current technology. Increasing fuel efficiency standards would save consumers $25 billion per year at the pump.
“I like my Prius,” said Arkansas Prius owner Perry Ambrose, Nutritionist and owner of the Natural Food Store in Searcy. “But it’s upsetting to think that I bought my car because I care about the environment, and now my dollars are being used to lobby against higher fuel efficiency standards that would benefit the consumers and protect our planet. That makes me question Toyota’s self-professed commitment to the environment and to its U.S. customers.”
“The Senate reforms protect consumers’ vehicle choices while improving gas mileage for everyone from Corolla owners to Tundra pickup drivers,” said Glen Hooks, Director of the Sierra Club. The Senate bill sets different fuel mileage standards based on the attributes of the vehicles, including size, with an overall goal of a 35 mpg average. Large work vehicles are exempt from the Senate bill’s mileage standards.
For more information about Toyota’s record on the environment, see TruthAboutToyota.com. The site was launched today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Environmental Trust, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.