GreenFinance: Toyota in eco-fight with GM over newer SUVs
Toyota was on top of the automotive world many years ago when the Prius hybrid vehicle was announced, and within a short time after the compact passenger car was made available to the public, there was a waiting list at nationwide auto dealers for the car. Nothing like creating a new market from scratch, eh?While Toyota has a slew of hybrid vehicles on dealer showroom floors now -- like the Highlander Hybrid -- the Japanese automaker has just as many gas guzzlers to match its eco-optioned vehicles. So much, that some environmentalists are chastising the automaker for making unleaded gas hogs like the Toyota Tundra and Sequoia.
Toyota, you've joined the Ford and General Motors club of being tossed in the media's big salad of grilling large automakers for their production of extremely un-green vehicles. Is Toyota losing its luster as the car company that invented the term green when it came to gas-saving vehicles?
At the same time Toyota is trying to take the Tahoe, Expedition and Suburban market share from GM and Ford, GM itself is making a huge stab at taking some of its famed guzzlers directly into hybrid territory. Take the 2008 Tahoe SUV, which comes with a hybrid option and much better gas mileage than the gas-only, V8 Tahoe. Now, the hybrid Tahoe isn't cheap (MSRP starts above $50,000), but it does offer impressive 21 mpg city and 22 mpg highway for a full-size SUV.
Where is Toyota's hybrid Tundra and Sequoia? They don't exist -- at least for model year 2008. Granted, the Sequoia doesn't start at $50,000, although the "Limited" version pegs the MSRP price at right over $42,000. It's anyone's guess now who will lead the race to 2020, when mileage requirements will most likely be in the rage of at least 35 mpg or even higher. Both Toyota and GM will need every year until then to refine these designs and get those engines and power plants as green as they can possibly be.
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