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Featured Slightly Toyota funded coalition calls for weaker CAFE

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Jeff N, Jun 28, 2016.

  1. Jeff N

    Jeff N The answer is 0042

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    If the "anti-Toyota" is addressed at me that is pretty absurd. I've been driving Prius models since before any of the rest of you except John who got his about a week before I got mine. I own and still use my 2004 Prius. I am not anti-Toyota! I do see the big picture.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you want facts, when rumor and innuendo will do?o_O
     
  3. Jeff N

    Jeff N The answer is 0042

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    As a company that sells cars in America, Toyota is obligated to join this trade group and support any positions that it takes. As one of only 12 companies, Toyota has only a tiny influence over the group's lobbying positions and no effective responsibility for anything the group says or does. In fact, none of the companies have any significant role in the group (except, perhaps, GM). What's good for plants is good for the planet. CAFE regulations are unimportant and this issue is of no real importance. Why did I bother to start this thread? Never mind.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    is this where hill posts his 'panties in a bunch' comments?:p

    i'm only messin' with ya jeff, my apologies if i went too far, i'm all for saving the planet.:)
     
    #84 bisco, Jul 3, 2016
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2016
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  5. iplug

    iplug Senior Member

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    Subsequent title edits to this thread...significantly less misleading now.
     
  6. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    "shorts"
    you?
    well - welcome to my world
    ;)
    .
     
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  7. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    My sensitivity goes back to October 2005 when I had just bought a used, 2003 Prius. I was showing it off, demo drives, when an 'earth mother' woman at work said she had heard that the blind are at risk of being hit by these quiet hybrids. From that first one, there has been a stream of anti-hybrid lies often repeated 10 times over by the ignorant:
    • landfills full of Prius batteries
    • $4000+ Prius battery failures in a few years
    • Prius makes no profit
    • Prius nickel turned Sudbury Canada into a moonscape
    • runaway acceleration (not Prius specific)
    • Hummer is greener than Prius (CNW marketing)
    • Auto reviewer snark ('the sun visor is too small' on the 2016 Prius)
    When I look at a claim and find it not only wrong but reverses reality and hides the worst offenders ... I have no choice but to 'turn up the squelch' to reduce the noise.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #87 bwilson4web, Jul 4, 2016
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2016
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  8. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    And because past posts here about this lobby group's action were attributed to GM alone, not even a GM lead coalition.
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i have to learn not to take these things personally. you just never know who they are aimed at.:)
     
  10. Jeff N

    Jeff N The answer is 0042

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    And let's be clear, I never said Toyota was dragging the rest of this group into pushing back on the CAFE targets. I merely posted a link to a mainstream news article and quoted the lead paragraph of the story which attributed the effort to an "automaker group".

    My great sin appears to have been the initial thread title which was "Toyota lobbies for weaker CO2 rules" because Toyota has not publicly stated any disagreement with this group's anti-CAFE lobbying effort that they help pay for.

    This inference of Toyota lobbying for weaker CAFE targets was too much so I changed it after a private discussion with bwilson4web to "Toyota funded coalition calls for weaker CAFE" which is indisputably correct. Toyota is funding this group and the group is calling for weakening the CAFE targets.

    This was still apparently too much for some people because they apparently read it to say "Coalition entirely or mostly funded by Toyota calls for weaker CAFE".

    The fact that Toyota has among the top CAFE fleet mpgs among all of the automakers (a fact I posted on this thread in detail before anyone else although it was aluded to by bhtooefr) is irrelevant to actual lobbying activities in Washington DC.
     
  11. bhtooefr

    bhtooefr Senior Member

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    To be entirely fair, the visors ARE too small. ;)

    (I would be OK with either the ability to slide the visor itself along the pole that it's carried on, or a plastic extension to the visor - both solutions would help block sun that comes between the end of the visor and the B pillar.)
     
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i would be okay with aftermarket visors, if any decent ones were available.
     
  13. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Mine are modded with an extendable length of cardboard - but i guess such a simple notion has slipped by several of the manufacturers. Yep - ugly - but it works

    .
     
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    same here. when i started a new one hour highway drive to see my father, i had to do something.
     
  15. Jeff N

    Jeff N The answer is 0042

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    UPDATE:
    Toyota is no longer hiding behind its membership in the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. It now has its top North American unit executive personally signing a letter to President Donald Trump along with 17 other automaker CEOs and chief NA execs.

    Make of it what you will....

    https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN15R0U9?client=safari

     
    #95 Jeff N, Feb 14, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2017
  16. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    I don't see how jobs are threatened although I guess they could argue the SUV production would have to be cut, and directionally smaller cars are made outside of USA. In any case I suspect the auto industry will get some relief, which is probably needed.
     
  17. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    CARB is thinking about becoming more strict. But I'm probably on the sideline:
    • 67 years old
    • Two plugin hybrids
    Bob Wilson
     
  18. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Really?

    if we learned anything from the decades of Hydrogen Hype - & most recently coming from Toyota's spin machine - that there'll be 10's of thousands of hydrogen cars on the road by 2018 ... saying you'll bring it, doesn't seem to work that way. The industry needs to get back to the old claim of "maybe in just 10 more years" ... as it doesn't generate nearly as much skepticism.
    guess i'll have to read up on where the synthetic "stuff" originates from - that such a thing is more renewable & cost effective than wind / hydro / PV / geothermal etc.
    .
     
    #98 hill, Feb 14, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2017
  19. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    Trump's import sabre-rattling indicates that would increase US jobs, but it may be at a reduced profit level.
     
  20. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Actually higher prices and fewer sales. There is a reason why WalMart sells a lot of non-USA goods ... a HUGE amount.

    Bob Wilson