LA Auto Show: Toyota Camry Hybrid is Green Car of the Year
by EcoGeek.org on 11.30.06
The Toyota Camry has been the top-selling vehicle in America for eight of the last nine years. This year, the 2007 version was unveiled with a hybrid option. The hybrid system bumps mileage from 24/34 mpg to 40/38 mpg but the price stays reasonable at base price of $26,000.
While Honda's newest hybrid model, the Accord hybrid, uses it's hybrid drive train more to boost performance, Toyota is betting that Camry consumers will be more interested in efficiency. Hopefully, they're right. This 60% increase in city driving efficiency today brought Toyota one of the highest honors of environmental automobiles, Green Car Journal's Green Car of the Year award.
This new Camry increases efficiency in more ways than one. The car uses a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and has been redesigned to decrease aerodynamic drag. The hybrid system is basically the same as that of the Prius, but they've brought it to an already extremely popular model and it will help Toyota realize it's goal of selling 300,000 hybrid vehicles in 2007.
The Toyota executive accepting the award dedicated it to Dave Hermance, Toyota's lead environmental engineer, who died last week in a plane accident.
See Also ::Toyota Camry Hybrid World Premiere and ::More Photos of 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
The General Motors Company made Hank's trip to LA possible by providing travel and accommodations. Hank is not required to blog about GM products. The only GM requirement as a condition of underwriting these expenses was to include this disclosure of this relationship, which, of course, he'd do anyway.
1 thing they forgot to mention.The Prius say's on the sticker 50 mpg and the Camry hybrid only 40mpg.
1 thing they forgot to mention.The Prius say's on the sticker 50 mpg and the Camry hybrid only 40mpg.
"Only" 40 mpg? How many cars do better than that? I'll answer that for you. In MY2007, precisely two - the Prius and the Civic Hybrid.
Nothing in Camry's size/performance class gets even remotely close to its combined fuel economy of 39 mpg.
" "Only" 40 mpg? How many cars do better than that? I'll answer that for you. In MY2007, precisely two - the Prius and the Civic Hybrid."
You're forgetting VW. All of their Diesel cars get better than 40 mpg. So you can add to that list, VW's Golf, Bettle, Jetta and the Passat Diesel gets right around 40 mpg too.
Oh yea, and Mercedes E Class Diesel also gets 40 mpg too!
And VW had partnered with Mercedes on the Bluetech diesel technology, so all these diesels are extremely low polluters too!
GM and Shell Oil are both sponsoring junkets to the LA auto show for Treehugger contributors? Do I smell a theme here?
--
editor note: Yep. The theme is that these big corporations now seem to realize that they can't succeed without paying attention to greens (that's an important step in the right direction), and they probably also know that bloggers don't have a travel budget like the New York Times or whatever.
We've never been anti-business and we're ready to sit down at the table and talk with people from any corporation, whether they are Patagonia or Wal Mart, and if the only way we have to sit at the table with them is with a plane ticket that they bought, then so be it. We prefer coverage to no coverage, and if you think we're that easy to corrupt, then I'm insulted.
You're forgetting VW.
No, I'm not. There are no MY2007 VW diesels for sale in the US besides the Toureg.
All of their Diesel cars get better than 40 mpg.
Only the Beetle and the Golf (with manual) achieved 40 mpg combined in the prior model year.
Oh yea, and Mercedes E Class Diesel also gets 40 mpg too!
No, it doesn't. The 2006 E320CDI is rated at a combined 30 mpg and 37 mpg highway.
And VW had partnered with Mercedes on the Bluetech diesel technology, so all these diesels are extremely low polluters too!
They're not for sale yet, and just because they will pass emissions laws doesn't mean they are "low polluters".
GM and Shell Oil are both sponsoring junkets to the LA auto show for Treehugger contributors? Do I smell a theme here?
You smell poor hippies.
You smell poor hippies.
Well, your promise from earlier today sure didn't last long, did it, troll?
Poor hippies? That's a joke.
And of course the republicans aren't influenced by campaign contributions, either.
Wait a minute...Shell Oil sponsored Treehugger at the auto show?!??!
Now we have to parse every damn line in every story to see what Shell's interest is.
Can't Treehugger get a grant or something? Or take some of that fabulous advertising revenue you are making from the affiliate ads all over the site and use that to go to the auto show!
But pretending you can objectively cover an auto event while being paid by an oil company? I'M insulted!
Man, this sucks. So who covered this auto show and WASN'T sponsored by an oil company? Is there any site out there we can trust?
--
editor note: A few things: 1) TH wasn't paid for coverage by Shell, they just got us there with a plane ticket. You'll notice that we didn't even write about Shell.
2) Ad revenue barely covers our costs. When we have enough for a travel budget, we'll use that.
3) We think that being on the ground to see things by ourselves is better than not being there. If we could have gone by ourselves, we would have, but that was not the case.
You do indeed raise real questions.
But I call this building a relationship with real people. That doesn't mean the Rain Forest Action network, for example, is going about it the wrong way, just that there are many avenues to change.
My take is that giant companies, even ones who do bad things, are full of good people trying to make change. Those are the people TreeHugger seeks to activate and involve ourselves with.
To cynicaly dismiss anything that shell or GM does is like saying "all Americans are evil".
The folks involved in Shell's alt fuel program in the United States, for example, have as much to do with Nigeria as you have to do with bombing Iraq. That is to say - they are unfortunately connected and might do well to speak out, but as far as anyone's personal relationships are concerned, that is where the comparison ends.
That said, it is fantastic that you bring these issues to people's attention and I encourage you to continue to do so - only with activated, intelligent readers like yourself will TreeHugger strengthen in integrity and transparency.
Regards,
Nick Aster, CTO
Man, this sucks. So who covered this auto show and WASN'T sponsored by an oil company? Is there any site out there we can trust?
If your so concerned about where the money is coming from I'm sure Treehugger will accept your donation.
Well, your promise from earlier today sure didn't last long, did it, troll?
The only one being a troll is you Anonymous.
I'm coming to this a little late, but this comment caught my eye...
"editor note: A few things: 1) TH wasn't paid for coverage by Shell, they just got us there with a plane ticket. You'll notice that we didn't even write about Shell."
If you know anything about corporate public relations, the goal is often to pay money to foster "good community relations" to keep your company name OUT of the press.
You have to ask yourself, the next time Shell does something that Treehugger would normally criticize, will you instead give your "friends" at Shell a call and let them spin you into silence?
Ask yourself that question honestly and every couple of months. That regular questioning of your own ethics is the real price you have pay when you take public relations dollars. I hope when you face those situations in the future, you will do the right thing. If Shell can buy your silence even once, the money was well worth it to them.
Good luck getting 40mph in a Camry Hybrid.
We have a 2007 with over 7300 miles, and have yet to have a tank average over 33mpg. The car sucks, and cannot even get close to advertised fuel economy.
You can support a good cause when you donate your used car to charity. The process is much easier now, all you have to do is present a few standard documents and voila, the vehicle is off your hands!