[eurohazard]

First, I enjoy the author's use of words and sentences. He's a better writer than a fact checker. All quoted text are from this article:

Toyota surpassed GM as the best-selling carmaker worldwide in 2007.

Wrong. GM retained #1 status for 2007.

Toyota did not manufacture anything that resembled a station wagon until 1987, with the Corolla wagon.

Wrong. Toyota wagons were a staple in the 70's (Corona, Corolla etc). the oldest Toyota wagon I can think of is the 1962 Crown.

In contrast, Toyota has never made an iconic car.

Supra is an icon. Corolla is an icon too if by no other reason than being continually made/updated/improved for 10 generations and counting. The 2000GT is an icon (You Only Live Twice).

In the case of Porsche, their ‘Germanness’ is part of the mystique. They need not be ‘American’ in order to succeed.

Porsche Cayenne anyone? I believe if it wasn't for America's love of SUV's, the Cayenne would never be.

More importantly, Toyota’s hybrid system is primitive—others, namely a joint effort from General Motors, BMW, and Mercedes—have far more ad-vanced hybrid systems that produce better mileage and greater power

Calling Toyota's Hybrid system "primitive" is laughable. Raise you hand if you once questioned the complexity of the Prius. Is the GM/BMW/DMC version better, more sophisticated? Maybe. The claim to "better mileage"....which vehicle I ask?

Moreover, the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan conducted a chemical analysis of 200 cars from the 2006-2007 model year. They tested for the presence of Bromine and Chlorine compounds, as well as various heavy metals. The report (Gearhart, Posselt, Juska, and Griffith 2007) found that GM has the healthiest interiors, followed closely by Honda, while Toyota has the most toxic interiors. On a scale of 0-5 (zero is best) the highly touted Toyota Camry rated 3.2, placing it in the “moderate con-cern” category. Although the best-selling Toyota Corolla scored better at 2.4, it is still far worse than the class-leading Chevrolet Cobalt at 0.5 (Gearhart et al. 2007: 15).

False; this is smoke and mirrors. Please guys follow this link to his reference... http://www.healthycar.org/documents/...carguide07.pdf Page 14 shows charts with "least concern" and of "most concern":
GM has 7 vehicles listed as least concern, and 6 vehicles listed as most concern.
Toyota has 2 vehicles listed as least concern, and 2 vehicles listed as most concern.
Or we can break it down to green (low concern), and red (high concern):
GM green: 9, GM red: 5 (it's good thing GM sold most of Suzuki, because Suzuki had a lot of red)
Toyota green: 4, Toyota red: 4

In the first year of three (2004-2007) in which the credit covers, the Toyota Prius was the only hybrid that qualified; hybrids from Honda and General Motors did not (although some states allow this credit).

False. Honda and FORD were allowed the tax credit: http://www.wrrc.p2pays.org/ref/37/36062.pdf Gm wasn't because GM only had the Silverado hybrid. Who remembers that? No magazine I read actually got improved gas mileage. The "hybrid" part was used mainly to power tools from the bed (it had four 110-volt outlets). So why would it deserve a tax credit under that system?

Other hybrid vehicles, such as the Honda Accord and the Honda Insight—with a conven-tional engine even more fuel-efficient than the Prius—were both discontinued for the 2008 model year for lack of demand. Among other factors, they lacked any external green identifier. In contrast, the unique style of the Prius announces one’s pious green identity.

Many things are wrong here, well let's say confusing or misguided. The Accord Hybrid got V6 gas mileage....that's why demand wandered and it was ditched by Honda. The Insight did get better EPA ratings than Prius, but many real world numbers showed otherwise. Another thing is the Insight looked just as unique as the Prius, it wasn't based on another car. And is it so hard to overlook the fact that the insight had 73 hp, and was a 2 door-2 seater? The Prius is a "real" car w/ ~150 hp, 4 doors, and seating for 4 adults.

I am on page 12.....I'm done for now. More to follow.