IT'S HARD TO BE BOTH TOUGH AND GREEN

[regfootball]

here

"It will be interesting to see whether Toyota can pull off this bit of PR wizardry. For some years the Japanese brand has been given a free pass by the general media when it comes to environmental image. The fact is that Toyota has plenty of fuel guzzling large trucks in its corporate line-up (the Sequoia, for example, gets no better mileage than its Motown rivals and is less fuel efficient than GM's new full-size SUV range). Seemingly unaware of such details, the press at large always picks on GM or Ford when writing about fuel thirsty vehicles. Only last summer's brief but aggressive broadside from the Bluewater Network environmental group broke the spell, by labeling Toyota's projected green image as a marketing ploy.

Now, it's going to be a challenge for Toyota to spin the presence of a real truck (the 'biggest and boldest in company history') in its line-up. Can the Prius alone maintain the company's environmental image, now that other hybrid applications are increasingly aimed at performance enhancement rather than fuel economy?"

[VenSeattle]

If GM can combine ethanol engines with Hybrid systems, then the vehicle would have pretty good MPG and be oil free... now, if they can just grow the refueling network fast enough.