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The auto giant has been pushing to oppose stricter regulations on pollutants. This week, new EPA regulations turned out to be favorable to hybrid technology, which Toyota dominates.
By Hiroko Tabuchi
The breakfast held at the annual meeting of Toyota dealers in Las Vegas last fall was an exclusive, invitation-only occasion in which attendees had to cover their cellphone cameras with red stickers.
Stephen Ciccone, Toyota’s most no-nonsense lobbyist, spoke. He said the industry is facing an existential crisis, not because of the economy or fuel prices, but because of stricter limits on exhaust pollutants proposed in the United States. The regulations were “bad for the country, bad for the customer and bad for the auto industry,” he said, according to a memo later circulated among Toyota dealers and reviewed by the New York Times.
“For more than two years, Toyota and our intermediary partners have stood alone in the fight against unrealistic BEV mandates,” he wrote, the acronym for battery electric vehicles. “We have faced many complaints from environmental activists, the media and some politicians. But we haven’t cut subsidies, and we probably wouldn’t back down.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized tailpipe emissions regulations that require automakers to comply with new, stricter average emissions limits. These regulations are among the highest to combat climate change in U. S. history.
But the regulations reassure primary elements of an earlier, stricter proposal. In particular, the final regulations were favorable to hybrid cars, those that run on gasoline and electricity, thus giving a more prominent role to a market governed by Toyota.
Toyota, it seems, came out on top.
Toyota, once a leader in empty cars, has cemented its role as a mouthpiece for caution in the face of too immediate electrification of the auto industry, its lobbying and its public relations to oppose the immediate replacement that experts say is imperative to addressing climate replacement. .
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