Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC – This week, Toyota committed to sell only electric vehicles by 2035 in Europe, aligning the automaker with an EU pledge adopted in July. Yet the automaker still doesn’t manufacture and sell any battery electric vehicles in the US, the automaker’s biggest market.
Toyota’s chief scientist Gill Pratt and regional CEO Matthew Harrison told Bloomberg Overdrive that the automaker will respond to the requirements of government regulations. However, Toyota has lobbied against global efforts to drive electrification policy in both the EU and the US (see PollutaMotor.com for a full overview of Toyota’s laggard status on electrification). In the US, Toyota sided with the Trump administration in its various rollbacks of clean car regulations, and continued to lobby Biden’s EPA for a federal rule weakened by loopholes for the auto industry.
In response, Katherine García, Acting Director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, released the following statement:
“Toyota’s announcement about delivering electric vehicles in Europe does little to speed up its molasses-slow electrification strategy in the United States. Why is Toyota ignoring its largest market?
"The most important thing Toyota can do right now to help drive electrification in the US is to support the strongest possible federal clean car regulations and the Build Back Better Act’s electric vehicle incentives, but its lobbying record on both has been dismal. For Toyota to get EVs on American roads, it must stop blocking the policies that will require them -- and other automakers -- to set firm electric vehicle targets and stop producing gas guzzlers altogether.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.