Toyota Supports Proposed ZEV Regulation Changes; Executive Cites Remaining Problems

    SACRAMENTO, Jan. 25 During testimony before the California
Air Resources Board (ARB), a Toyota executive today expressed the automaker's
support for changes to the proposed state regulation which would shift focus
from a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate to overall air quality goals.
    "The proposed modifications, coupled with creation of an independent
assessment panel to help ARB evaluate propulsion technologies, can help set a
new direction and lend greater effectiveness to the ZEV program," said Jim
Olson, senior vice president of External and Regulatory Affairs for Toyota
Motor North America.
    Olson noted ARB staff efforts to address the shortcomings of purely Zero
Emission Vehicles by cutting back the required number of vehicles and filling
out the requirement with credits for partial zero emission vehicles (PZEVs)
such as gasoline/electric hybrids.
    "Toyota commends this effort to balance demands from various
stakeholders," he said. "And we applaud the significant shift in focus to
other technologies that we believe have more current and future marketplace
promise."
    Citing an example of a marketable solution that is a bridge to even more
advanced technologies, Olson said that Toyota's successful Prius hybrid
vehicle relies partially on electric power but remains affordable by combining
a battery and a small Super Ultra Low Emission (SULEV) gasoline engine.  Prius
delivers more than 80 percent better fuel economy and 90 percent fewer
emissions than a comparable internal-combustion vehicle.

    Olson also called attention to several problems remaining with the
proposed ZEV regulation:

    -- Manufacturers must "sell" battery electric vehicles, not just "offer
       them for sale."  Toyota doubts the marketability of battery electric
       vehicles, he said.

    -- If approved, the regulation will be adopted by other states such as New
       York and Massachusetts "vastly increasing the cost burden on automakers
       and siphoning resources away from the development of more promising
       clean-air technologies here in California," he added.

    -- The proposed regulation contains no provision for expert public review
       of the marketplace readiness or future potential of advanced
       technologies.

    Olson added that Toyota fully supports the introduction of advanced
technologies and understands that the ARB must answer to many constituencies.
He pledged that Toyota would continue to work with ARB staff to further
improve the regulation and submitted a list of suggested changes.
    Despite the remaining problems, he affirmed that Toyota will "do its best"
to comply, if the regulation is approved.
    "We believe in environmental stewardship and customer satisfaction," he
said.  "That's why we hate to be caught in a conflict among a government
mandate, the limitations of technology and the demands of the marketplace."
    Olson called successful regulation "the art of combining the desirable and
the doable" and said that Toyota wants to work with ARB to "find a better way
to create market-driven public policies that lead consumers where the
environment needs them to go without wasting public and private resources."