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Leading environmental groups are pressing Toyota to drop its opposition to the tougher of two fuel economy proposals in the United States Congress, calling the carmaker's stance contradictory.
In a letter to Shigeru Hayakawa, Toyota's chairman and chief executive of North American operations, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the US Public Interest Research Group, the National Environmental Trust and other organisations said Toyota should support the higher standard since it makes the best-selling petrol-electric hybrid, the Prius.
"Unfortunately, Toyota's recent lobbying in the US Congress is inconsistent with its global reputation as an environmentally and socially responsible company," the groups said.
Toyota, the global sales leader, and big US manufacturers oppose a measure passed by the Senate in June that would require the US vehicle fleet of passenger cars, sport utilities, pickups and vans to average 35 miles a gallon (56km/4 litres) by 2020, a 10 mpg improvement over today's standards.
Car manufacuters are concerned the proposed method in the bill for calculating fuel savings would hurt their businesses by effectively limiting production of pickups and sport utilities. Those vehicles have been big sellers, but are generally less efficient than cars.
The motor companies support a less stringent bill proposed in the House of Representatives that sets a goal of 32 to 35 mpg by 2022.
Momentum has slowed in Congress for passage of energy legislation, including efforts to boost fuel economy to lessen dependence on foreign oil. There is no timetable for final action.
For decades, Toyota has built its business in the US on efficient and reliable cars. But the company is now expanding its pickup production, taking sharper aim at a market dominated by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
GM, Ford and Chrysler have for years successfully fought meaningful increases in fuel efficiency and emphasised larger, more powerful vehicles such as sport utilities and pickups.
Toyota said it was on the right side of the fuel economy debate in supporting the House proposal, saying it is realistic and achievable.
"We have been an industry leader in fuel efficiency, consistently surpassing federal government standards," said Josephine Cooper, the company's top lobbyist.
Meanwhile, Consumer Reports said it was reversing a practice of recommending all new Toyota cars and trucks after two models earned below-average rankings in a closely watched reliability study.
The reversal was the latest setback for Toyota after a period of fast growth in the US that has made it the No 2 player in the world's largest car market. Toyota's US sales slipped 1 per cent in September for the third consecutive month of declining results.
Meanwhile, high-ranking executives have defected recently to US carmakers and environmental groups have criticised Toyota for resisting stringent increases in fleetwide fuel economy.
In recent years, Japanese car brands, led by Toyota, have dominated Consumer Reports' influential study of the most reliable new vehicles.
Although Toyota ranked third in reliability behind only Honda and Fuji Heavy Industries' Subaru, Consumer Reports also found two Toyota models had "below average" predicted reliability.
Those two models were the V6 version of Toyota's flagship Camry sedan and the four-wheel-drive, V8 version of its new Tundra pickup truck.
"Consumer Reports will no longer recommend any new or redesigned Toyota-built models without reliability data on a specific design," the publication said.
"Previously, new and redesigned models were recommended because of the carmaker's excellent track record."
Besides its influence with car shoppers, the annual study is used by major carmakers as a proxy for their performance in improving and maintaining vehicle quality.
"None of our internal data points to customer dissatisfaction with any of those models," Toyota spokesman John McCandless said.
"We look forward to analysing the data and we'll sit down with Consumer Reports and take it from there."
The Japanese carmaker's fast growth since 2000, when it had less than 10 per cent of the US market, has left it facing new pressure and scrutiny.
"Toyota has had a lot of product introductions, they've been pushing up volumes," said David Champion, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports, on the sidelines of an event at which he briefed reporters on the report. "I'm not sure of the root cause of the problem, but maybe that's having some effect on their quality." -
Reuters
