You must have seen the adverts for the Lexus RX400h. It’s a big 4wd vehicle, but this ones a little bit special, as its fitted with Toyota’s “Hybrid Drive Technology”.
The advert headlines with “Put Your Carbon Footprint Down” and claimed the Lexus RX400h is a luxury car with a conscience, in fact, “A luxury car that’s better for the environment but without the compromise, thanks to our unique Lexus Hybrid Drive Technology… so if you want to make a stand for the planet, but arrive in style, find out more by visiting your local Lexus centre.”
Well perhaps the RX400 would chuck out more crap without the hybrid technology, but fact is that even with the hybrid technology, its CO2 emissions are a flower killing 192g/km and by no stretch of the imagination, is that green or helping the planet.
Whilst we don’t like people moaning unnecessarily, they have a point here and there were a number of complaints which were upheld by the Advertising Standards Watchdog which included investigating if the ad was misleading because it was suggesting the vehicle was better for the environment than it actually is, and whether it was irresponsible because it might encourage or condone speeding.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) did not uphold a grievance that the poster suggested people should ignore concerns about carbon emissions, but it did note that potentially most consumers would understand that a hybrid car would be better for the environment than a standard engine and was therefore it was a pro-green message.
Toyota are a good company that set the benchmark in this technology over 10 years ago and they deserve all our thanks for that, but this is like saying cutting your smoking down to just 10 fags a day is good for your health. Yes of course its better, but why not stop altogether, or in this case, if you really care, why not drive a smaller cleaner vehicle, for at this technological point in history, you cant really expect a car the size of a small island to be environmentally friendly.
