Japan's Carmakers Cheer Obama's Green Push

(AP)  Japanese automakers on Wednesday praised President Barack Obama's new rules to push green vehicles and transform the U.S. auto industry - a shift that likely puts Japan's manufacturers at an advantage.

Toyota Motor Corp., the maker of the Prius hybrid, which gets 50 miles per gallon in the U.S., gave Mr. Obama "high praise" for promoting technology to boost mileage and fight global warming.

Mr. Obama announced rules Tuesday that would bring new cars and trucks sold in the United States by 2016 to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon, about 10 mpg more than today's standards.

Passenger cars will be required to get 39 mpg, light trucks 30 mpg. That means cars and trucks on American roads will have to become smaller, lighter and more efficient.

Already, Japan's automakers have benefited from consumer demand for cars with good mileage and lower emissions.

Toyota, which boasts other fuel-efficient models in its lineup, vowed to continue to develop more green technology.

"In addition to the technology we have been developing from the past, Toyota will speed up in pursuing various ecological technologies, including hybrid technology, to deliver better mileage in vehicles," it said in a statement.

Honda Motor Co., Japan's second-biggest auto company, expressed similar sentiments.

"Honda supports President Obama's initiative to establish a single national standard addressing both greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy," it said in a statement from the U.S.

"Though it will be a challenging standard to meet, we will embrace it," Honda said, adding that it has long worked at fuel efficiency.

The Prius, whose remodeled version rolled out earlier this week, and Honda's Insight hybrid, which went on sale earlier this year, are among just six vehicles on sale today that offer fuel economy of at least 35.5 mpg, according to the auto Web site Edmunds.com.

The others are the Honda Civic hybrid, the Ford Fusion hybrid, the Mercury Milan hybrid and the Smart fortwo microcar.

But Mr. Obama's new rules are, in a sense, even more demanding. They require the U.S. auto industry to produce by 2016, vehicles that average 35.5 miles per gallon overall, with passenger cars reaching 39 mpg and light trucks hitting 30 mpg.

The system develops standards for each vehicle class size, and each manufacturer would be required to hit mileage targets.

The plunge in auto demand in the U.S. market, set off by the credit crunch and financial crisis, has slammed Japan's major automakers, sinking all but Honda into the red for the fiscal year that ended in March.

Echoing the view throughout this nation's industry, Nissan Motor Co. said it was behind Mr. Obama, stressing its record for supporting proposals for lower emissions and fuel economy, and expressed hopes for taking part "actively" in the effort.

"Nissan supports the Obama administration's plan to reduce greenhouse gases," it said.

Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said Nissan has been working on being ecological not just because of rules, but because of growing global interest in the environment.

"This is not just to clear regulations," he told reporters Tuesday when asked about Mr. Obama's expected announcement. "Contributing to a clean environment has become part of automakers' strategy."

[jolanta725]

Everyone can agree that more fuel efficient cars are best for everyone concerned--it would also help strecth out the 40-50 more years we have before we run out of fossil fuels altogether--would love to see a new practical energy source/fuel in the not too distant future--

[jbar116]

NONE of this would matter if the U.S. Auto Industry was not walking around with their heads up their ***** screwing consumers for dollars. The gas problem is nothing new and was first noted by people with brains in the 70's during the first crunch where we consumers waited in line to fill up our gas guzzlers then. The big greedy 3 knew this was our Achilles heel then but never planned appropriately for it by developing vehicles that could compete in the MPG field as Toyota & Honda have.

Yes Honda & Toyota both competed in the SUV and Truck market but they weren?t closed minded or ignorant enough to believe that the gravy train would continue indefinitely as the Big 3 did. This foresight is what makes them superior to the Big 3; planning ahead for all possible contingencies is a basic business survival strategy that the Big 3 chose to ignore and instead concentrated on bonuses and how much the American consumer can afford to pay for their crap.

It is quite amazing that so many major corporations with supposedly countless, well educated, smart people working for them aren?t farsighted enough or capable of planning for their corporations future more than the next 3 or 4 bonus checks. The U.S. is in the middle of a humbling experience (hopefully so) for its corporate leadership although I don?t hold out much hope for them learning anything from it; greed has a way of doing that to people.

[zippiez]

Can Ford, GM, or Chrysler make 50 mpg that match today's giant, non-economy cars at affordable prices?
Only if they want to and upper management doesn't want to triple their current salaries.

[budmag06]

As the US automakers brace for Obama's $1700-$7000 per vehicle tax, and are now taking their dying breaths, "big bucks" are heading for Japan and China for their planned mass production of Obama's "People's Car". They love the US "green" movement!!!

[globalcoolin]

The Japanese know they can beat the crap out of us in competition globally AND IN OUR OWN LAND NOW!
Now watch Mendela come to the US and pronounce Obama as Americas most Asian President, the way he declared Clinton was America's Black President.

[sjc_1]

Henry Ford said that the workers should be able to buy the products that they produce. When we Wal-Martize America down to the last penny, soon the wage slaves that work the low paying jobs will not be able to shop at Wal-Mart with their low wages. This should have been obvious 30 years ago when big business threatened that higher wages would make them less "competitive".

[geminispyder-2009]

"Japanese automakers on Wednesday praised President Barack Obama's new rules to push green vehicles and transform the U.S. auto industry - a shift that likely puts Japan's manufacturers at an advantage. "

What do you mean "likely puts Japan's manufacturers at an advantage?"
"It does" put Japan's manufacturers at an advantage.

[Patriot_0311]

Makes no difference who wiil have the advantage, since no one will have the means to purchase these vehicles here in the U.S. Third world economies have no room for automobiles for the masses. And since "just about everyone" is unemployed, due to the consumption of "foreign made" products, we'll soon reach third world status!