7 IRV'S SHEET: Setting the Record Straight

Mr. Jackson's article then notes that the 2008 Sequoia was introduced in Los Angeles against a backdrop of a large screen that showed a forest, "…that presumably will disappear with global warming fueled by cars such as this," according to the piece.

While carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles do contribute to global warming, they're far from being the largest single cause. What they are guilty of is being obvious and visible, and therefore the easiest cause to blame. In fact, there are many other causes.

According to the Federal Energy Department, CO2 emissions – the greenhouse gasses that Mr. Jackson worries will kill the forests in the photo he saw - from coal-fired electrical generating plants total approximately 35% of total CO2 emissions in the U.S. That's as much as the total generated by every airplane, diesel locomotive and automobile in the country combined, according to the Energy Department.

The piece continued, "The reality is that Toyota works right along with Detroit in limiting the alternatives to large SUVs."

A simple visit to a Toyota showroom, or to our website, will illustrate that we offer many alternatives to fullsize SUVs. These alternatives include not just our popular Prius, but also our high-mpg Yaris models, our Scion line, our new Corolla, our Highlander SUV and Highlander hybrid and our Camry and Camry hybrid. All of these vehicles are at, or near, the top of their categories in terms of fuel economy.

Mr. Jackson then claims that Toyota works with America's Big Three automakers GM, Ford, and Chrysler, trying to kill or soften attempts in Congress to raise fuel-efficiency standards.
The fact is that Toyota, in concert with the Detroit auto manufacturers, vigorously supports an increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. We have said repeatedly that we support an increase in CAFE. You can find some of those calls for such an increase right here on Open Road. And just today, we reiterated our support for congressional CAFE legislation and commended leaders in congress for their dedication to pushing out a difficult agreement on fuel economy.
Mr. Jackson's piece then goes on to say that Toyota's introduction of the 2008 Sequoia "… 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 Chicago Trib's point is an important one. If SUVs haven't lost their following, how can Toyota be responsible to its stockholders (to whom it is compelled by both law and by ethics to be responsible), and to its customers, if it fails to offer such vehicles?

Moreover, it is the fact that we can make a profit on vehicles like the Sequoia that allows us to spend nearly $8.4 billion per year – that's about $23 million each and every day – on the kind of research and development required to come up with game-changing vehicles like the Prius, with game-changing technologies like Hybrid Synergy Drive and our hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
Next, Mr. Jackson's piece quoted Toyota General Manager Bob Carter as saying, "Some buyers still have no alternative to large SUVs," and added, "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."

Going off road, or staying on it, is irrelevant, even if Mr. Jackson choses to ignore the fact that many Americans do, in fact, take their recreation in dedicated off-road areas.
In two-wheel-drive form, Sequoia is, just like a station wagon, capable of the jobs active families expect it to do – seat up to eight people in comfort and haul their luggage. Is it a '60s Country Squire? No, it's much better than that – safer, more comfortable and much more efficient.

In any case, it seems likely that Mr. Jackson has never had to tow a horse trailer or a boat, or make his way up a slippery road to a ski lodge. His position also suggests that he's never had to haul a gaggle of children on a vacation trip. If he'd done any of those things, he might have a better understanding of the Sequoia, be it in two- or four-wheel-drive form.

Mr. Jackson's piece goes on to say, "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."

In making this statement, Mr. Jackson suggests that he believes that Toyota has ceased its drive toward sustainable mobility – the new art-form of transportation he mentions. In fact, our efforts to enhance Hybrid Synergy Drive, to improve battery technology, to perfect so-called plug-in hybrids, to develop clean diesel engines and to develop hydrogen fuel-cell technology continue at full speed. But while all of that advanced technology is being developed, Toyota – indeed, no manufacturer – can decide what should, and should not, be or become an artifact, as Mr. Jackson puts it. That's the consumer's job.

And that's the problem with Mr. Jackson's position. He'd put the automobile manufacturers, and perhaps himself, in charge of dictating what people will drive. Toyota's position is that people should make their own decisions about what they drive. It's our job to provide them with the best choices possible, which is precisely what we're doing.

We think it's entirely laudable that commentators like Mr. Jackson wish to participate in the conversation about fuel economy and exhaust emissions. These are important topics and are worthy of the attention of all Americans.

Unfortunately, commentators like Mr. Jackson sometimes seem to write from emotion instead of reason, and to allow themselves to be blinded to truth, and to easily obtainable facts, by their fervor for greenness and fuel economy. It's as though being in favor of low emissions and high mpg makes them immune from the laws of nature, science and economics, and suspends their responsibility to learn, and then tell, the whole story. And that is, at best, unfortunate.

~ Contributed by Irv Miller, Group Vice President, Corporate Communications