Inside the latest Toyota electric vehicle tantrum

Toyota just went so far off the reservation at a recent press event when asked about the brand's lacklustre attempts to produce an EV. Here's the epic tantrum and the fact-based rebuttal...

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Far be it for me to promote a competitor but Australia's second most reviled motoring journalist, Joshua Dowling, wrote an excellent piece recently, in Drive.com. It is freaking awesome.

He's not really a competitor, Josh is in a class of his own. He's he's so far out in front of the rest of the pack, in my view, as the industry specialist at walking up to the line of ‘Never Getting Invited Back’, and just poking his toes over the edge. And he just he stays there, perfectly balanced. I I don't know how he does it.

Mr Dowling attended some shitbox Corolla launch and the thing that terrifies everyone in corporate communications, more than anything else, is when a senior executive goes off the script. And there is an actual script, be it tangible or notional, there is a script from which you will not depart from the major talking points thereof.

But when they do, it’s chaos.

Now, this is not the worst case of this, but it highlights some really important points in the current discourse about decarbonization and electric vehicles, and all that virtuous bullshit.

Now, I'm using the definition of ‘bullshit’ by Professor Harry G Frankfurt who is the professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University and he's written the only academic discourse on this term, ‘bullshit’. One of the key features of our culture. You can get a copy of ‘On Bullshit’ here >>

‘On Bullshit’ it explains a lot of things in relation to the conduct of politicians, CEOs and senior executives of companies - and each of us individually - because, let's be clear, we all contribute our share.

Toyota's not alone. Toyota is a major producer of bullshit in the automotive domain; they really are they're quite good at it. Here’s just a taste:

Toyota is not opposed to battery electric vehicles. We believe that to get to carbon neutrality you have to take everyone on the journey, you have to have a solution for the market you're operating in…

You have to appreciate what the director of sales and marketing for an organization like a car company actually is, how they operate and what they do.

If you're in that position, you just have this endless stream of people coming into your office telling you, metaphorically, that your work doesn't stink. You did such a great job with that last campaign; it's awesome; well done.

In particular, this eternal praise also comes from executives from advertising agencies making millions of dollars a year out of you and your department’s multi-million dollar annual budget. They're not going to criticize you too hard, are they? Everyone below you is going to tell you what a fantastic job you're doing.

The real tragedy is that some of the points that Toyota’s spokesperson made I actually agree with, some of them. But because he is a mouthpiece for Toyota which is such an epic bullshitter, they don’t carry much credibility.

Here’s why…

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The enemy of my enemy

This quote (above) is largely marketing masturbation.

Carbon neutrality is an effective, emphatically bullshit term for an organization that produces cars and this neatly overlooks the fact that there's got to be something like 20 plus tonnes of CO2 emitted for the manufacture of every car.

Toyota makes nine and a bit million cars every year (still struggling, though >>). So do the maths - that’s 180 million tonnes of CO2. Manufacturing of new cars is therefore something of a commitment to the environment similar to the tobacco industry's commitment to human health.

We've got to start calling the car industry out on its bullshit to do with carbon neutrality and working to solve the problem. Greenpeace did that recently >>

I think they should just steer away from even using that term, because even a cursory analysis can tell you that it’s bullshit.

Check out the full dummy spit by watching the full report above. It’s good for a laugh, if nothing else.

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