Toyota Attacked for Hybrid Stance on Fuel Efficiency

Wasn’t it just days ago that Toyota stood tall as the auto-industry’s environmental darling, the golden child of gas-electric hybrid technology? With all A’s in efficiency, Toyota’s Prius was even named America’s most fuel efficient car two years in a row.

But the tables have turned.

Now, in a case of “good company gone bad,” Toyota’s sterling reputation is under attack from environmentalists claiming hypocrisy.

At the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota revealed its second-generation full-size sport utility Sequoia. . . no hybrid option followed in toe. Back in Washington, Toyota’s lobbyists resisted higher efficiency standards across the US. Environmentalists are claiming a marketing waltz, in which Toyota is triple-stepping to an earth-friendly tempo, but bowing to fuel-thirsty trucks and SUVs.

Yesterday, amidst picket signs and angry protestors at the Los Angeles Auto Show, a Toyota exec snapped and knocked a video camera out of the hands of an environmental activist, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

The incident occurred at the end of Toyota's press conference, after the introduction of the 2008 Sequoia full-size SUV.

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