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Hi everyone, and a special welcome to over a thousand new DCN members who have joined from our Earth Day Challenge! It’s a very exciting April for clean cars. Our campaign to keep hybrid technology focused on fuel efficiency is off to a very strong start, and the Supreme Court gave us a big win on global warming and autos. All that, and our new Automaker Rankings report. What more could you ask?
Enjoy your Spring!
Scott Nathanson
UCS National Field Organizer &
HybridCenter.org Administrator
In this issue:
 We’re off to a strong start in our month-long campaign to send a message to Toyota about the nature of the hybrid market. I’m happy to announce that we’re already over half way to our goal of 14,000 petitions asking Toyota to bring a fuel-efficient minivan option to America. If you’ve yet to sign the petition or help spread the word, please get involved and get a chance at our “Cool Car – Cool Planet” prizes!
I’ve already had some very interesting back-and-forth with a number of participants in our campaign. I thought I’d share a few:
Q: I'm glad you're prodding Toyota to produce a fuel-efficient hybrid minivan, but why not also prod Honda? They're the other major producer of hybrid vehicles, with at least as much experience and as broad a range as Toyota, plus their Odyssey minivan has been top rated in the U.S. for quite a few years.
A: You're right about Honda, but Ford, GM, and DaimlerChrysler also have minivans and hybrid technology that could do the job. We are singling out Toyota because they have a hybrid minivan on the roads (two actually, as you’ll see below). That said, we hope that a petition of this sort will have ramifications beyond Toyota itself, and demonstrate to all the automakers that a hybrid minivan would be a smart business move, and, as importantly, that the public is concerned about the growing trend of using hybrid technology to boost power rather than efficiency.
Q: Many of us were anxious for Toyota to import the Estima to the U.S. The conclusion from Toyota seemed to be that since it is a smaller version of the standard US minivans, it would not sell in this market. We all thought them VERY wrong. My wife & I spent last month in Australia and saw many of the gas versions of the Estima. My understanding is that Toyota plans to introduce a hybrid version of the Sienna van, perhaps in 2009.
A: Consumers keep getting teased with vague promises about the Sienna Hybrid. We felt a concerted campaign might help get Toyota “over the top” on this important decision.
 Q: Why are you focusing on just the Estima hybrid? Toyota actually has two different hybrid minivans in Japan, the Estima (available since 2001, was just redesigned with HSD [Hybrid Synergy Drive] a year or two ago), and the Alphard, available since 2003. (BTW: the Estima minivan (non-hybrid) used to be sold in the U.S. under the Previa name.)
A: It’s because I can’t support any vehicle with a name as silly sounding as “Alphard.” Okay, not really. The Alphard is more of the luxury-end Toyota minivan in Japan. The hybrid has four wheel drive, and would get roughly high-20s or low-30s for Environmental Protection Agency-estimated gas mileage (it gets about 42 mpg on the Japanese test cycle as opposed to 47 for the Estima).
There are a couple of reasons why the Estima works better as the example vehicle for our campaign. First, at its essence, this petition is a statement to Toyota and the other automakers that Americans want fuel efficiency to come first when it comes to the expansion of hybrid choices. If Toyota acts on our petition, I would expect that the option we will likely see in the United States would be a Sienna Hybrid (likely built in Indiana). The key is to make sure that as they adapt the Hybrid Synergy Drive for the Sienna, they are thinking about how many miles per gallon they can squeeze out of it, not about making a more powerful Sienna that gets slightly better fuel economy.
Second, given that in America, Toyota is now putting out more high-end and muscle hybrid choices than fuel-efficiency hybrids (3 Lexus models and the Highlander Hybrid vs. Prius and Camry Hybrid), choosing the less “tricked out” version of a hybrid minivan makes a secondary statement—hybrid options should be made available to all consumers, and not just be seen as a luxury item. Toyota did a very good job of that with the Camry Hybrid, making its premium over the standard Camry quite reasonable. As the technology spreads and the per-unit cost drops, the goal should be to get fuel-efficient technology into as many hands as possible.
If you have any questions or comments about our campaign, please feel free to send them to me at hybridcenter@ucsusa.org. And don’t forget to take action and spread the word!
You might remember back in December I talked about the Supreme Court case on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) right/responsibility to regulate automotive global warming pollution. On April 2, the Supreme Court issued a highly-anticipated ruling, and guess what? We won! The case was brought by more than a dozen states, several cities, and various public interest organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists. In a 5-4 decision (as we predicted, Justice Kennedy was indeed the swing vote), the Court ruled that the EPA not only has the authority, but also the duty to reduce global warming pollution. The Court said that the EPA’s arguments for not taking action in the past were “unpersuasive,” and in no way license the EPA to “shirk its duty to protect the public health and welfare.”
 This ruling is a major step forward for California and 11 other states that have been fighting to implement laws to reduce global warming pollution from cars and trucks. For years, the EPA has refused to issue California the waiver to establish regulations that go beyond the federal Clean Air Act it needs in order to implement its global warming standards for cars. This has effectively blocked every state that has adopted the standards and has slowed progress in other states that might consider adoption. The EPA has now relented and started a public comment process on the waiver. It will hold a public hearing on the state's waiver request May 22 in Washington and the public comment period will run through June 15. Not satisfied with just beginning the process, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter to the EPA threatening a lawsuit if they do not reach a decision on the waiver within six months.
The momentum is clearly growing. On April 24, Maryland officially became the twelfth state to adopt the standards, and a number of other states, including Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas, are considering adoption. Combined with those that have already adopted, these 19 states represent more than half the U.S. population and auto market. In ramping up their continued lawsuits against the clean car standards in Vermont and California, the automakers are showing more and more how out-of-touch with the public they really are, just like when they lobbied and litigated against such vital advances as mandatory seat belts and catalytic converters.
- Toyota News Roundup: This month, Toyota began offering discounts on Prius option packages worth as much as $2,000. The discounts are in addition to the low-cost lease and no-interest financing packages that the company first offered in January. The newest Prius incentives are clearly not a mark of dwindling sales—Prius sales hit record highs again in March and Toyota, for the first time, led global auto sales in the first quarter of 2007. This month, Toyota’s Lexus brand announced that it will launch a hybrid version of every model in its fleet by 2009—including the $104,750 LS 600h L luxury hybrid sedan. For more information, check out the Hybrid News section.
- Chinese Automakers Go Green at Shanghai Show: Chinese-built hybrid and fuel cell models and concepts were highlighted the 2007 Shanghai Auto Show. Roewe presented a hybrid version of its 750 saloon, and Chery showcased a mild hybrid sedan based on its A3 supermini. Shanghai Buick unveiled a showstopping Riviera concept designed to house a mild hybrid powertrain that is expected to go into production in 2008. The vehicle is a product of a joint venture between GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). It is rumored that Shanghai GM may also introduce a mild hybrid Buick LaCrosse for the Chinese market. For more information, check out the Hybrid News section.
- Prius befuddles state emissions test: For the first time, 2004 Prius hybrids are required to take the Georgia emissions test. Unfortunately, every Toyota Prius tested so far has failed—or rather, refused to take the test. During the emissions test, a vehicle must idle its engine, which poses a problem for the idle-off hybrid. The automated test, which hasn’t been adjusted to account for vehicles with idle-off capabilities, instantly fails the eco-friendly car, forcing the owner to apply for an exception. For more information, check out the Hybrid News section.
This month, the Union of Concerned Scientists released its latest report, Automaker Rankings 2007, which puts the automakers’ green marketing claims to the test. Using tailpipe emissions and vehicle sales data, this report measures the environmental performance of the eight major automakers.
Honda topped our rankings as the country's greenest automaker for the fourth time in a row—news which Bloomberg even suggested helped to increase Honda’s American stock value in same day trading. Honda was followed closely by Toyota, which surged into second place by making significant cuts in global warming pollution. Hyundai-Kia, Nissan and Volkswagen were in the middle of the pack, coming in third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Ford and General Motors, meanwhile, were at the back. DaimlerChrysler placed last, earning the Rusty Tailpipe Award for the dirtiest automaker, which reflects the company’s failure to offer good environmental vehicle choices.
 Don MacKenzie (pictured here looming over Times Square with Ed Cohen, VP of Government Relations for Honda) UCS vehicles engineer and report author notes, "There is a huge gap between the cleanest and dirtiest automakers. The winners are using clean technology across their entire fleets. The losers are installing it piecemeal, or not at all."
It is clear that all automakers can do more to cut their models’ tailpipe global warming and smog-forming emissions by incorporating existing, conventional technologies throughout their vehicle fleets. Unfortunately, not all automakers seem to share our “can-do” spirit. In particular, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is an ardent critic of regulations governing carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions and fuel economy. In an April 9, 2007 Wall Street Journal article which referenced the UCS Vanguard minivan design Lutz directly challenged UCS:
"I know after you write your article the Union of Concerned Scientists will bombard us with letters saying, 'What Mr. Lutz says is absolutely not true, they're just trying to sidestep the thing again. The technology for achieving these goals is readily available. It costs very little.’
My challenge to them is come to my office, meet with me and my staff. Show us your technology, and if it works and it's cost effective and readily available, we will gladly meet the target using your technology. Gladly. Come to my office. Next week, if at all possible. Run don't walk."
Indeed, David Friedman, research director for the Clean Vehicles Program, met with Mr. Lutz and other GM officials the following week. Although the details of the two-hour meeting were kept confidential, David did note that neither side got much closer in their views regarding the vehicle efficiency and emissions debate.
Our Earth Day Challenge has led to a nice bump in folks joining our “Who’s Got Hybrids?” feature. Here are a few of the newbies:
 Joseph Mercado of Pasadena, CA just loves his Toyota Prius Gen. 2. He notes, “it's not just the gas mileage I’m crazy about--it's everything about the car!”
 Joe Irrera of Nashville TN seems to capture the sentiment of many hybrid buyers: “I feel guilty saying I [bought my Toyota Camry hybrid] to help ‘the environment’ -- the car is THAT much fun to drive.” Isn’t it great when you can buy a fun car that also has a smaller ecological footprint?
 Ger Brassfield of San Bernardino, CA traded in her Honda Element for a 2007 Escape hybrid, which she calls “great-looking car with an aggressive stance.”
Be sure to check out all the new pictures and testimonials when you get the chance. We’re always looking for new people, so please encourage your hybrid-owning friends to come join us!
That’s it for this month. Just remember that the deadline for our petition campaign is May 28. So help spread the word!
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