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Owners of Toyota vehicles protest auto maker's stand on fuel efficiency Friday, Oct 19, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A small group of Toyota vehicle owners voiced disappointment Thursday with the automaker's opposition to proposed fuel-efficiency standards for new vehicles. "Toyota is saying one thing and doing another, and they should know better," said Don Richardson, executive director of the Arkansas Climate Awareness Project, which organized a news conference at the state Capitol. Toyota, which boasts on its Web site that it is "leading the way in lowering emissions and improving fuel economy in gasoline-powered vehicles," has joined other major automakers in opposing a bill passed by the Senate that would require the U.S. fleet of passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and pickups to average 35 miles per gallon by 2020, an increase of 10 mpg over current standards. Richardson said he owns two Toyota vehicles, a Prius and a Tacoma pickup. The annual Fuel Economy Guide ranked the 2008 Prius hybrid the most fuel-efficient car in the U.S. for its average 45 mpg on the highway and 48 mpg in city driving. "I have always thought that the vehicles were great vehicles, and I've been a proud Toyota owner," Richardson said. "I'm very disappointed in Toyota nationally, though, for taking this stand against the 35 mpg standard." A spokeswoman for Toyota did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Thursday, but company spokesman Irv Miller wrote earlier this month on a company blog that the mileage standards in the Senate bill are not reasonable, given the demand in the U.S. for large, high-powered vehicles. "Like it or not, Americans will continue to need and want variety, including pickups and SUVs. Nobody forces cars and trucks on consumers. They vote with their wallets," Miller wrote. Larry Coleman, a Prius owner and retired professor of physics at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, disputed Toyota's claim that the proposed standards are too high. "Their own product argues otherwise," he said. Richardson said his criticism of Toyota is not aimed at dealerships. He praised Caldwell Toyota-Scion in Conway, which broke ground last week on what the dealership touts as Arkansas' first public retail building constructed according to Leadership of Energy and Environmental Design guidelines for energy efficiency. "The folks at Caldwell are doing a great job, and we wish that Toyota nationally would take a lead from what their folks in Arkansas are doing," Richardson said. Richardson was one of five Toyota vehicle owners who spoke at Thursday's news conference. April Ambrose of the Climate Awareness Project said the environmental group hoped to gather written messages or signatures from about 30 Toyota vehicle owners in the state and deliver them to the Little Rock office of U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. Pryor voted for the Senate energy bill earlier this year. Ambrose said the vehicle owners will urge Pryor to support sticking with the 35 mpg standard when competing Senate and House energy bills are reconciled in conference. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, also D-Ark., also voted for the energy bill. The House has passed an energy bill that does not include any mileage standards. President Bush has threatened to veto any bill containing the mileage standards the Senate has proposed. |
