Toyota winning race to be greenest automaker in US
Ford brought in Kermit the Frog to show that it is "green." GM is touting its ethanol-powered trucks. Honda has the best offerings. But when Americans think of environmentally friendly vehicles, they think of Japan's Toyota.
"There's that perception, and it's something that's uniquely American," said Anthony Pratt, a researcher for the automotive consumer resource J.D. Power and Associates, who noted that Europeans look to diesel for fuel economy.
"The Toyota Prius hybrid came out just when gas prices started to increase. That got promotion from Hollywood, when you have people pulling up to award shows in them," he explained. "Then it becomes part of (comedian) Jay Leno's monologue, it becomes part of our pop culture. It becomes, 'Isn't that the car (Leonardo) DiCaprio drives? Then it's good enough for me.'"
In recent years automakers have expressed growing concern for issues such as global warming and smog-forming pollutants. But the race to be greenest is the race for the green -- dollars, that is.
More and more US car buyers are looking for fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles.
Among those who expect to buy a new vehicle within the next two years, 57 percent are mulling a gas-electric hybrid, 49 percent a flex-fuel ethanol-powered vehicle, compared with only 12 percent looking at a diesel-fueled vehicle, according to a recent J.D. Power and Associates study.
The study forecasts that hybrids, which represented 1.2 percent of the US market last year, are expected to increase to 1.6 percent this year and 5.0 percent by 2013. Sales of diesel vehicles likely will rise from 3.2 percent to 9.0 percent within the next seven years.
There is also now the threat of potential legal costs pushing the green agenda. On Wednesday, California announced that it had filed a civil suit against GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan for their alleged contribution to global warming, a first such legal fight in the United States.
Volkswagen, with its US model line free of gasoline-guzzling trucks and sports utility vehicles, is the best-ranked nameplate in JD Power's Automotive Environmental Index, a combined analysis of tailpipe pollutants, greenhouse gases, Environmental Protection Agency fuel-economy ratings and consumer opinion.
Honda has the most fuel-efficient fleet. It was the first automaker to introduce a hybrid into the US market; the Civic hybrid was the first such version of a conventional vehicle. Honda also sells the only compressed natural gas-fueled vehicles available to consumers.
But it is Toyota that seems greenest.
"The average person will say Toyota, in part because it was able to tap into a perfect storm," said David Friedman, research director of University of Concerned Scientists' (UCS) Clean Vehicles Program.
"Honda had the Insight, but it was a niche-market vehicle. And to many people the Civic hybrid was just another Civic, which is a good, high-quality vehicle, but not really revolutionary in terms of image. The Prius was unique," he said.
Experts agree that Ford Motor Co., the Chrysler Group and General Motors Corp. have poorer images when it comes to green products, mostly because they dominate the full-size sport-utility and truck segments.
Ford caught tonnes of flak for going back on plans to build 250,000 hybrids, despite other major environmental initiatives like its membership in the Chicago Climate Exchange, a greenhouse gas-reduction program, and advances in hybrid technology.
GM and Chrysler have taken steps to improve fuel economy, but have not earned much credit. Both companies market energy-saving V8 engines.
Detroit's Big Three automakers plan to more than double production of vehicles capable of running on renewable fuels, to two million by 2010. GM's Saturn will introduce the Aura Green Line hybrid, which will join the Vue Green Line. GM Chairman Bob Lutz has said hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles could hit showrooms as early as 2010.
But perception is reality, so auto companies have stepped up their marketing campaigns. DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche was recently featured in a blitz of TV and radio spots, talking up diesels and "clean" technology.
Popular Sesame Street Muppet character Kermit the Frog was employed earlier this year as a shill for Ford, while GM has launched a "Live Green Go Yellow" campaign to raise awareness about energy-savings already found on its 1.5 million vehicles in the market.
Experts say automakers need to do a better job educating car buyers. Otherwise, the race to be green could leave consumers feeling blue.
"By numbers, Honda's greenest, Toyota's got the image," said UCS's Steadman. "The reality is, they all have a long way to go."
AFP
