Featured The Real Toyota

The lobbying part comes from an Influence Map report that was discussed here.
https://influencemap.org/report/The-Carbon-Policy-Footprint-Report-2021-670f36863e7859e1ad7848ec601dda97
Toyota Breaks into Top 10 of Worst Companies on Climate Policy | PriusChat

This was news to me, "the company was fined $180 million last year by the EPA for violating clean air regulations." Seems they weren't filing the legally required reports about emission equipment defects with the EPA. Sounds like they didn't learn from the sudden unintendeded acceleration fine.

"Toyota’s conduct likely resulted in delayed or avoided recalls, with Toyota obtaining a significant economic benefit, pushing costs onto consumers, and lengthening the time that unrepaired vehicles with emission-related defects remained on the road." -
Office of Public Affairs | Toyota Motor Company to Pay $180 Million in Settlement for Decade-Long Noncompliance with Clean Air Act Reporting Requirements | United States Department of Justice

They are center-left, pro-consumer, and supposedly non-partisan. They get a high ranking for factual reporting from Media Bias.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/public-citizen/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Citizen

It was a single post to call out Toyota. Be weird to complain about Tesla not doing EVs.

Auto industry search results from the site.
You searched for auto industry - Public Citizen
and GM
You searched for general motors - Public Citizen

 

All I know, now, is that I wouldn't want to have to sift through all the different charger companies popping up and try to figure out which one to open an account with to charge even locally, much less on a road trip.
I doubt that issue is going to change any time soon either. I don't know about anyone else, but I've heard some not so nice reports about super charging on road trips too. Not that superchargers probably aren't the most reliable road trip charging infrastructure presently, when I heard a few years ago there was going to be supercharger ( fees / charges ) I could only guess what the future might look like being locked into them.

 

I allow for the idea that we are interpreting things differently, and may not even be seeing the same sources- but my perception is that only a handful of them aren't dragging their feet. And all of those are low or medium-volume luxury builders.

Plenty of businesses are willing to eat a loss in the beginning, before scaling up. This group is asking Toyota to eat the loss at full scale, forgetting that Toyota must compete with all those other car companies.

So from my point of view, any broad social pressure to electrify needs to be aimed at the entire industry. They're already battling massive industrial inertia. To play favorites with one automaker vs. another draws them another layer deeper- then they are fighting capitalism as well as industrial inertia.

 

And meanwhile 2023 / 24 Primes continue to trickle down into this country. I wonder where the rest of the lines output is going to?

 

From the "article":

By lobbying to weaken greenhouse gas standards for vehicles and opposing requirements that it sell electric vehicles.

Correct me if I'm wrong (entirely possible), but what are these "requirements" to sell electric vehicles?

 

when what where - who are they? and Ford is willing to do?

 

Interesting how divergent opinions are and how sure each of us is that theirs is right.

Here is another opinion, link listed below. Pay particular attention on who is the 5th most admired Company In The World in the video

Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list for 2023

(Note after watching the video and linking it for some it may have a paywall - sorry. I am not computer literate enough to know why. The video content shows Toyota as one of the Most Admired Companies in the World for a great number of consecutive years- some of the others were Microsoft, Apple, Berkshire-Hathway it was select company. It was for 2023.)


In case you can't sit still to watch Toyota is one of only a few companies to make the list so many years in a row.

A phycologist could probably have a field day exploring why Toyota has so much angst by such a few people.

I would be remiss if not pointing out the many efficient vehicles Toyota makes to reduce pollution -Prius, Camry, Corolla all getting over 50 miles per gallon of gas.
The enormous economic contributions to the North American Economy and investments in America - the 10's of thousands of jobs and support industries - their continued economic contributions to causes and communities they are in.

And we are discussing an article by an individual who probably hasn't contributed a gnat's worth of effort to make the world a better place but wants to start throwing rocks at others.

What crazy measuring sticks we use to judge others rather than ourselves.

I am glad we have wonderful companies like Toyota in the world and individuals who care enough about the world to write articles and discuss its current state.

 

I heard recently that Ford is cutting back production of all it's Electric fleet due to poor sales.
Would you want Toyota to produce a electric vehicle that either doesn't sell as expected or is not fully tested for quality.

Only one issue after buying such an automobile, is figuring out where it can be used and how to charge it when it runs out of range.
Personally, I can wait for some of the still quite large EV issues to unwind, before diving in blindly, especially when there are so many others spending lots more than I on much bigger hungrier fossil fuel burners.
That issue isn't going away anytime soon either, no matter how many and how much complaining we do about it.

 

Okay, Ford has some electric F150s out there. They cost a fortune and it sounds like Ford is still taking a loss.

How is that better than Toyota shipping the bz4x, which is also overpriced for what it is and likely causing Toyota a net loss on each.

I don't see much difference between these examples.

Every party wants to use mobility electrification to their own advantage. That's natural, and a tough nut to crack.

Auto makers: "Electric cars? Well, okay, as long as we can eventually get double the profit margin. But keep the volume ultra low until we can really get a clean margin."

Auto dealers: "Electric cars? Well, okay but only if we get more finance and service revenue. Let's only order a handful of the most expensive ones because the revenue on designer goods is almost enough to make up for the reduced service an EV needs."

Auto buying public: "Electric cars? Well, okay, but only if they're cheaper to buy and run than what I have now."

 

@Doug McC No harm no foul, in my book if you are not happy about the current state of Toyota s EV fleet.
For me there are bigger issues I wish could / would be handled better. I'm happy to have a decent Toyota and can't wait to see what they come up with next.
It may be a bust for the US, who knows.

 

Admired by business and financial people. They are likely using different metrics environmental groups.

Why the continue attacks on the messenger? The info they are using to be critical of Toyota was documented by other groups, including the US government.

Earlier this year, EV sales were growing by 90% over last year. Now it's just 45%. Other car sales are growing slower. Ford slowing investment into EV production might have more to do with interest rates and the new UAW contract.

Ford, VW, and GM didn't have to assemble an "every couple decades" team to address losing ground in the EV market. Fall out from Dieselgate pushed VW, but they actually started EV ground work before then.

Toyota may now make statements about committing funds equal to the others, but those others have already broken ground on the projects.

 

I’d love to have a BZ4X or a Ford Lightning. I see them, and I like.

 

well they never tell you that's who's paying for their election, and thus, that's who they are beholdin' to. Isn't that why they've not too long ago started referring to it as "the swamp"? You try & drain it ... and the swamp[ WILL defiantly come after you.
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