Toyota’s Opposition to Clean Fuel Bill

Toyota, which prides itself in making Prius, the top-selling gas-electric hybrid car in the world, has got its image as the “green car maker” tarnished, as the world’s largest auto company announced its plan last week to join General Motor, Ford and Chrysler in opposing a Senate bill mandating higher fuel mileage standards.

The bill, raised by Senator Baron Hill from Indiana, requires automakers to hit an average of 35 miles per gallon for their cars by 2022. Toyota, along with other domestic auto giants insisted the standard remain at the current level of 32 mpg.

Toyota’s decision to team up with the Big Three has apparently annoyed many Prius owners, who bought the model for its highly efficient emission of greenhouse gases. The Indianapolis Star reported last Tuesday that several hybrid owners planned to drive to Butler Toyota on the Northside to deliver a letter urging the carmaker to back tougher standards.

What irritates environmentalists more, however, is that Toyota has already enforced higher standards in Japan, its home country, and managed to meet even higher requirement of 49 mpg imposed by the EU.

So why would Toyota, the pioneer of clean car energy follow double standards and adopt a set of political rhetoric that only Detroit Congressmen took for granted?

To start with, we might need to clarify that corporations exist to maximize shareholder value. In a hyper-competitive business arena, Toyota invented the Prius to fulfill an important and potentially growing market niche in cars that consumed less energy. That said, it was being neither socially responsible nor irresponsible; it was simply responding to market demands.

In making a political decision to form an alliance with the Big Three to thwart higher fuel standards, Toyota was simply acting for the sake of creating more profits. By allowing its competitors to keep relying on gasoline-driven models, the Japanese automaker can maintain its dominance in the lower-gas-guzzling market a little longer.

The hard ball Toyota is playing, however, has posed a threat to democratic politics. The world isn’t composed only of consumers and investors. Everyone, including stockholders and car buyers, is firstly a citizen, with some basic values to priorize. Saving the planet from global warming, as it appears, is one of the most critical missions a normal citizen should assume.

In the course of creating value for shareholders, Toyota should refrain from following a strategy at the cost of corrupting the political process.