Archive for the ‘Toyota’ Category

Are dogs worse for the environment than SUVs?

You'll find a number of sources trumpeting the widely publicized results from New Zealand researchers, concluding that yes, dogs are worse for the planet than SUVs. But don't kick out the hound quite yet and head for the Hummer dealership; according to the Seattle-based Sightline Institute, the research is very flawed in many respects.

Robert and Brenda Vale, of Victoria University in Wellington, have claimed that a mid-size dog has a larger eco-footprint than a large luxury SUV (in their calculations, a Toyota Land Cruiser V-8).

They argue that a medium-size dog consumes 90 grams of meat and...

Detroit's Big Three may have grabbed most of this week's headlines, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the world's automakers have been sitting on their hands. One story that isn't getting much play is the fact that Toyota Motor Company -- which posted its first-ever loss last fiscal year -- returned to profitability last quarter.

Although the company's financials weren't quite as impressive as those Ford released on Monday, the ¥21.8 billion ($242 million) profit Toyota realized in July, August, and September 2009 marks a welcome break from the losses Toyota posted in the three previous quarters. Of course, that ¥21.8 billion figure...

We’ve been here before. The government mandates more fuel-efficient vehicles across the board, yet the American public continues to gravitate toward what’s big and powerful.

Barring this era of greater responsibility and restraint, which might pass like a fleeting fancy with the recession, why not pick the bigger or more powerful car, we say?

A lot of things are different this time around, though. Perhaps most remarkably, quite a few executives of automakers and major auto-supplier companies are voicing out in favor of higher fuel taxes—of more rigorous regulation of what types of vehicles can be built and sold—as a way of reducing our...