7gen Bloc

I’m disappointed. I’d heard rumor of this before, but it was sad to read Thomas Friedman’s account of how Toyota is lobbying against tougher auto mileage standards in the Senate version of the draft energy bill. You heard me right: Toyota is sitting right beside GM, Ford and Chrysler arguing that it can’t achieve a corporate average fuel economy standard of 35 m.p.g. by 2020.

Friedman speculates on the reason.

“Why would Toyota, which has used the Prius to brand itself as the greenest car company, pull such a stunt? Is it because Toyota wants to slow down innovation in Detroit on more energy efficient vehicles, which Toyota already dominates, while also keeping mileage room to build giant pickup trucks, like the Toyota Tundra, at the gas-guzzler end of the U.S. market?”

The article goes on to note

“Representative Edward Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said to me that Toyota could meet a 35 m.p.g. standard in Japan and Europe today, “but here — even though they bombard Americans with ads about how energy efficient Toyota is — they are fighting the 35 m.p.g. standard for 2020.”

Let’s tell Toyota that if they don’t knock it off we’ll all be buying Hondas.