A super-sized Toyota
IN TOYING with its image,
"It's changed in every imaginable category, but the basic concept remains the same," Bob Carter, Toyota executive, said at the show, as the car rolled onto the stage, with a large screen ironically showing a huge forest, one that presumably will disappear with global warming fueled by cars such as this. "People who buy full-sized SUVs typically need a full-sized SUV . . . long-distance traveling is an American phenomenon. While it's not unique to America, I believe Americans invented it and have refined it to an art form."
Such stupidity reveals a harder underbelly of the company that could hardly enjoy a greener image. The hybrid Toyota Prius is an environmental status symbol among CEOs, celebrities, and politicians. "We somehow . . . let Toyota get ahead of us in terms of environmental technology because they did the Prius hybrid and we elected not to do that kind of hybrid," Robert Lutz, vice chairman and chief of product development at
Toyota's insanity of pushing the Sequoia follows its recent loss of favor in Consumer Reports' reliability ratings. It is a reminder that despite 9/11 and despite the disastrous invasion of oil-rich Iraq, the company remains happy to profit off Americans who cannot look past their hood ornament. Sport utility vehicles remain more profitable than cars. As the Chicago Tribune wrote last week, "Big SUVs haven't lost their following . . . it remains a boon for automakers."
The Tribune quoted Bob Carter as saying, "Some buyers still have no alternative to large SUVs."
That is a laugh since it long ago was reported that 95 percent of SUV owners never take their vehicle off road (and as we lose more and more green space, we certainly would not want them to). There are few things an SUV carries or pulls that a well-designed wagon could not.
The reality is that Toyota works right along with Detroit in limiting the alternatives to large SUVs. It works with America's Big Three automakers GM,
Since then, with the tide of environmentalism turning against them, the automakers now say they can get to 35 mpg, but not until 2022. That might seem like a small difference, but the fact they are arguing over such a small difference may betray exactly how little they hope to be held to new standards.
It is nice that Toyota at least gave us the Prius. But it also would be wise for people who consider themselves green to follow the greenbacks. In 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, Toyota Motor Sales USA gave a respective 82 percent, 60 percent, 99 percent and 61 percent of its political contributions to Republican causes, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That is roughly in line with the two-thirds Republican breakdown of contributions from the Big Three.
In no surprise, with the Democrats back in the leadership of the House and the Senate and with a real chance to gain the White House, the automakers are either splitting their early campaign money or shifting the majority of it toward the Democrats. Toyota has given only $10,735 so far, but 76 percent of it has gone to the Democrats. That should make environmentalists want to have a keen ear for how strongly Democrats truly push for fuel economy.
In praising the Sequoia, Carter said the basic concept remains the same. That is precisely the problem. Just when Toyota was creating a new art form for transportation, it continues to push what clearly should be an artifact.
Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.
