Toyota’s Green Problem

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  • Posted By: spooky 32 pilot @ 11/12/2007 11:05:20 AM

    build 2 cylinder engines with motors that run on nuclear fusion or electric lipo batterries if submarines in the ocean can withstand the kind of contrstraints and pressures they have in the deep ocean then they should come up with technology that can run on nuclear without making it unsafe and also for a terrorist to make a bomb out of

  • Posted By: ksckol @ 11/12/2007 10:45:48 AM

    American auto companies had better focus on the energy efficient development of their cars and less on lobbying or they all will go down. It is about time that the oil/auto pigs become a distant memory.

  • Posted By: Photonengineer @ 11/12/2007 10:29:58 AM

    Snoofy wrote: Buy American, the job you save might be your own"

    Yeah, sure. Award American corporations for moving production overseas, cutting middle class jobs and rewarding their bloated execs with mulitmillion dollar bonuses. No thanks.

    Let's get Darwinian here. If the car companies can't produce high mileage/low pollution vehicles, then those dinosaurs they build deserve to go the way of the dinosaur...extinction.

  • Posted By: orlando1606 @ 11/12/2007 10:25:25 AM

    35MPG by 2020? what a joke. If we are still dependent on oil in 2020; the price of a gallon of gas by then;at the rate we are going, will be14-15 dollars a gallon, if we are luckey. If by 2020, we have not been able to free ourselves from dependence on oil/gas, then 35 MPG is a step beckwards from where we are in 2007

  • Posted By: gearhead @ 11/12/2007 7:33:35 AM

    Detroit loses market share each time the price of gas cycles back up to a peak. American automakers get stuck with big inventories of gas hogs, moreover they do not know how to produce for a market that requires high fuel economy.
    Foreign car makers do, since high gas prices are a way of life overseas. Gas mileage standards would help US car makers inoculate themselves against this losing situation, but why should Toyota help them make the right decision? The current game favors Toyota and they want to keep playing it.

    • Posted By: conchem @ 11/12/2007 10:16:51 AM

      Gasoline at $3 per gallon represents only about 20% of the cost to drive an automobile one mile. I'm concerned more about the other 80% of the cost.

  • Posted By: snoofy @ 11/12/2007 10:09:04 AM

    buy american the job you save might be your own.

  • Posted By: Globecky @ 11/12/2007 10:05:55 AM

    They can't sell that many cars because they are so expensive!

  • Posted By: ksckol @ 11/12/2007 10:05:51 AM

    Talk about Nazis! We live in a different world today - population, pollution,consumption. If you think you have the freedom to do anything that you want your selfish stupidity is apparent. The US and other developed nations better think out their course of action because it will, ands has backfired on all of us.

  • Posted By: rtmo @ 11/12/2007 2:00:05 AM

    Wait a minute. I have a Corolla and a Camry. both get better than 30 mpg, and were a good buy. They perform very well. It seems irrational to persecute them so ruthlessly when they have performed so much better than domestic manufacturers.

    • Posted By: jzarp @ 11/12/2007 9:54:21 AM

      Thats funny - my 2006 Chevy Malibu gets just over 40 mpg on trips, with my wife, myself and 3 kids with luggage. This is a nice midsize car with plenty of room and very comfortable and all the power we need. By the way, it gets a little over 30 in everyday commutes. My sister-in-law has a smaller Chevy Cobalt that gets about the same. My Malibu cost a lot less than the Camry and in 39000 miles has not had a single trip to the dealership except for oil changes. I think you all should figure out that our country is money driven - companies sell what people buy - GM, Toyota -ALL of them. Compared to the number of vehicles Toyota sells worldwide, the hybrids are a drop in the bucket - for PR if you will. On another point - the rest of the world does not have the polution and safety standards we require in America - that saps mpg and adds upwards of $4000 to prices here in North America. Toyota is a Japanese company that builds a lot of vehicles in America - and Canada and Mexico - I wonder how the people in Japan that work for them feel about the millions of cars they build all over the world - like Ford and GM and everyone else. Sometimes you have to build vehicles in other countries to avoid tariffs - so you can sell there at a competitive price. All of you need to get off your special interest adgenda - look at reality in the world - companies are in business to make money and will protect the environment only when it benefits them at the bottom line - either by sales or PR advantages. US manufacturers make lots of vehicles that get over 30 mpg, some over 40, and are VERY dependable - not enough people buy them!!

  • Posted By: blackhawk400 @ 11/12/2007 9:50:13 AM

    I agree completely. I am still young, but have owned many cars. the two that stand out though are my previous 91 Honda Accord (28-30 mpg) and my current 04 Nissan Sentra (23-25 mpg). I really dont understand why my 13 year younger/smaller car gets such bad gas mileage. With all the new technology it should easily reach the 30mpg mark even with a bigger 2.5L engine. I should have kept my 2001 Pontiac Trans Am. It matched the Nissan Sentra's mileage (or better) and was a lot faster with the V8 and more fun to drive!

  • Posted By: marnar @ 11/12/2007 8:23:17 AM

    I remember the energy crisis in the mid 70's and in response my parents went from the big station wagon to a Datsun B-210 hatchback. Those cars got 35mpg back then, what's the big deal now? It shouldn't take any car manufacturer until 2022 to meet fuel efficiencies that we had 30 years ago!

    • Posted By: nevergrowup @ 11/12/2007 8:41:46 AM

      If you also remember you had to get out and push it up the hills

      • Posted By: waiting for change @ 11/12/2007 9:13:56 AM

        I never had to push my B-210 up a hill. Maybe my old VW Beetle. Fuel economy targets can be met easily - get rid of the big engines except for real utility use. A Toyota Camry 4-cylinder easily has all the power and passing acceeleration one needs, gets much better fuel economy than the Camry 6-cylinder and has a big trunk. This is just an example. Or you can buy a boxy SUV one with 4-wheel-drive, whick few people need, let alone use. (I live in the great lakes snow belt and have never had 4-wheel-drive) and then complain about the cost of fuel. The American public needs to equate performance with reasonable fuel economy instead of with how fast a car will go or how big it is.

  • Posted By: tamiberd @ 11/12/2007 9:10:05 AM

    I drive a '93 Honda Accord. On average, I get 30 MPG. How is it so hard to reach 35 with new technology? Shame on the Detroit Three and Toyota. The only thing green about them is their wallets.

  • Posted By: 33988 @ 11/12/2007 8:57:58 AM

    It amazing that in Europe the majority of cars are burning clean diesel fuel. Here in New York you cannot buy a clean diesel Jeep Liberty, and for good reason - the clean fuel is not available for purchase.......

  • Posted By: jstepp590 @ 11/12/2007 8:43:00 AM

    How is it that cars in Europe can get such good gas mileage using diesel motors and we can't seem to get it here? Gas will continue to get more expensive because we have an increasing demand for a shrinking supply as well as a weakening dollar to buy it with. Auto makers have fought every shift, whether it was for unleaded gasoline or catalytic converters. It's become their automatic reaction to fight change.

    As long as we allow lobbyists and corporations influence in our government we will always have trouble getting things done.

  • Posted By: njshoreemt @ 11/12/2007 8:01:28 AM

    Why is it that in Europe, Asia and Australia the cars there are already getting 50-60mpg, but it is "impossible" for them to do it here???? The car makers already have higher standards there. We have the lowest mpg rate standard of ANY country in this world-including China!!!!! Why is it so hard for them to make the same cars here???

    • Posted By: nevergrowup @ 11/12/2007 8:40:46 AM

      that answer is simple, everywhere else in the world most cars run on diesel, wich by the way is illegal in california, and in maine. maybe other places as well

  • Posted By: rick727c @ 11/12/2007 1:18:27 AM

    Ya'll are all a bunch of idiots.... What we don't pay in fuel cost or oil prices we will pay in increased insurance premiums and life insurance policies due to automotive deaths For the last twenty years more cars and vehicles are being made with more plastic and glass and thinner sheetmetal that I can put a dent in with two fingers.Not to mention the new ones coming out now with all glass roof....Yippie....First it started out with driver side airbags,then it went to passenger side airbags.Now we are in the days of airbags in the doors....Next they will want to add airbags on the roof....You ever ask yourself why Is it we need to drive in a air bubble ?...Because the vehicle isn't made of anything to begin with.....Ford Focus for example? or a mitsubishi eclipse ? Who in their right mind would think you could survive in an accident in the piece of crap like a focus with a full size truck or SUV ? or even a midsized car....You could if you were in an accident with a Tonka toy truck....Oh and let me guess the Govt. gave it a 4 or 5 star crash rating...Allowing these cheap vehicles to be produced what kind of value does that tell you about what auto manufacturers and the Govt.puts on your life ? It should be against the law to produce any vehicle that small and cheap.Now what do you think is going to happen with this stupid GREEN craze ? All these Hybrid cars are going to be produced and get the rest of the world killed .Step back and look at the front and rear of your vehicle you own now.There is no sheetmetal at all in front except for the paper thin sheetmetal hood and a very small front fender on each side as the same with the rear.Oh but cars are much lighter than they were 20 years ago and even then we were getting twenty miles to the gallon and they were made of more than plastic and glass but now they can't do any better than 5 miles to the gallon better now ?I have news for all of you.We have been destroying and abusing the world for the last 100 years,its to late to save it now.The world isn't going to be here that much longer anyway.

    • Posted By: midwestern mutt @ 11/12/2007 8:39:54 AM

      Rick, I think you need to cut back on caffeine. You're getting a little worked up.

    • Posted By: Rick Motown @ 11/12/2007 4:31:53 AM

      Yep, "we're" all a bunch of idiots! As for you, Rick, tell us, how do you know its too late?

      • Posted By: sniper19 @ 11/12/2007 5:15:17 AM

        Hey Rick! I'd tell ya' to get a life, but since YOUR world is soon coming to an end I find that pointless. In the mean time, please allow the rest of us 'idiots' to go about making an effort to right the wrongs that we, as well as our parents and grandparents have acted out over the past 100 years. Some of us take priode in correcting our errors. Oh, and good luck with what little is left of your time on this planet!

  • Posted By: syager @ 11/12/2007 8:24:19 AM

    Doesn't surprise me. If they were really concerned about the environment, they wouldn't build new factories--however "green" they claim they are--in cornfields, they would renovate old mill buildings in inner cities--but then, if they did that, they might have to deal with unions.

  • Posted By: sschweitzer @ 11/12/2007 8:18:48 AM

    It is about economcs people. Supply and Demand. As long as the consumers are demanding big SUVs and willing to pay the high price of gas, the car companies are going to supply the products. When the demand curve shifts, then they will adjust their thinking. It is up to us as consumers to change our ways in order to send the proper message to all auto and oil companies.

  • Posted By: marnar @ 11/12/2007 8:18:06 AM

    I remember the gas shortage of the mid 70's and the Datsun B210 hatchback my folks bought in response to the energy crisis. Cars were getting 35mpg back then! What's the big deal now?

  • Posted By: boudreau5 @ 11/12/2007 8:13:30 AM

    Where are the domestic manufacturers in all of this? Toyota has provided those same manufacturers with the powerplants (green) to be players in this 2020 green goal?

    The way I see it. Toyota is more committed stateside than anyone and is responsible for the technology to even discuss a 35 average MPG car.

    The real turncoats are the folks that aren't committed to sticking with Toyota while they "perfect" the technology in order for it to be beneficial to us..and them.

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