Toyota has gotten a lot of mileage out of portraying itself as the greenest, most fuel-efficient car company on the planet, and has reaped the benefits both financially and pubic relations wise. Yet they are careening toward becoming the most hypocritical car company on the planet by aggressively opposing desperately needed higher U.S. fuel economy standards. Toyota should be worried that their green bubble will burst.
Let’s take a little stock here. The company has sold over 1 million hybrids to consumers who’d rather sip gas than guzzle it, and who want to do their part in the battle against global warming.
But now Toyota is teaming up with Detroit’s Big Three to scuttle legislation that would raise fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020—a technologically feasible, and urgently needed step for a country President Bush has admitted is “addicted to oil.” When our nation is contributing more C02 pollution than any other—and fueling the global climate crisis—isn’t it the reasonable thing to do to perhaps, I don’t know, become more efficient?
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