Skip to Content

Toyota fires back at Thomas "Flat World" Friedman!

Hot on the heels of Tom Friedman's indictment of Toyota in the New York Times, the company has responded. Friedman was critical of Toyota's support of the Hill-Terry fuel economy bill along with all the other big automakers. Toyota's VP of Communications Irv Miller has used his podium at the Open Road Blog to defend Toyota's position and he sounds an awful lot like Bob Lutz while doing so.

As much as Miller's recent defense of parallel vs. series hybrids came across as disingenuous, he makes very valid points in his response. Like Lutz, he discusses the much greater variety of the US vehicle market compared to Europe and elsewhere. High-mileage vehicles are the norm in Europe not because of efficiency mandates but rather due to high fuel prices. Those prices are in part due to much higher fuel taxes.

Essentially, like GM, Ford and others, Toyota is a big manufacturer trying to supply a product in line with the demands of the consumer. They are no worse and no better than any other. Well maybe they are slightly better having been on the leading edge of hybrid technology (although now trying to ride the existing tech as long as possible). They deserve some credit for that but it doesn't give them a pass forever. At the same time, politicians and NY Times columnists need to look past the politically expedient ideas and seriously consider tax changes if they want to make a real difference.

[Source: Toyota]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.



Featured Galleries

  • 1 Liter Racing League
  • Suzuki Alto in Global Green Challenge
  • Proterra Electric Bus
  • Local Motors Rally Fighter
  • 1916 Woods Dual Power Model 44 Coupe
  • Audi Avatar
  • Global Green Challenge Tesla Roadster goes 313 miles
  • Meyers Motors NMG
  • Cozmo NEV
  • Tokyo 2009: Suzuki Swift PHEV
  • Tokyo 2009: Suzuki SX4-FCV
  • Honda mobility devices

Categories


Autoblog

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum