Toyota jumps on E85 wagon

Toyota jumps on E85 wagon

Automotive News
December 17, 2007 - 12:01 am ET

Toyota remains committed to hybrids and skeptical about ethanol.

But the ever-expanding automaker will offer flex-fuel versions of its
large Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV to meet demand and counter
competition, says Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.

That means the trucks, beginning with 2009 models, will be capable of
running on fuel that is up to 85 percent ethanol, usually made from
corn.

The company sees demand for the flex-fuel option in the Midwest, the
nation's Corn Belt, Lentz said in a meeting last week with reporters
in Washington.

In the 2008 model year, available flex-fuel vehicles include
full-sized pickups from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Nissan,
according to the government Web site www.fueleconomy.gov.

Lentz said that Toyota does not need the fuel-economy credits that
automakers receive for building flex-fuel vehicles.

A company can add as much as 1.2 mpg to its scores in the corporate
average fuel economy program, or CAFE, by selling flex-fuel vehicles -
even if the vehicles never burn a drop of anything but gasoline.

Environmental groups consider the credit a loophole that discourages
energy conservation. An energy bill pending in Congress, which would
sharply raise CAFE standards, would continue the credit until 2014 and
then begin to phase it out