The new legislation does not single out the Prius by name. Instead, it opens car pool lanes to any alternative-fuel vehicle that meets a series of requirements, most significantly a fuel efficiency of 72km per liter.
As things stand now, only the Prius, which is so popular that dealerships report months-long waiting lists, and the far less prevalent Honda Insight and Civic Hybrid would qualify. The Ford Hybrid Escape, an SUV coming on the market this fall, is expected to average 49km per liter on highways.
In his letter on Aug. 16 to Schwarzenegger, Ford wrote that the legislation "puts our workers and stockholders at a competitive disadvantage precisely when Ford is entering the hybrid market with a family-oriented, no compromise SUV."
He asked, "How will you be able to tell consumers who purchase this vehicle that they will not be allowed to drive in the car pool lane while other hybrid vehicles can?"
Cindy Knight, the environmental communications administrator for Toyota Motor Sales USA, said the company considered the legislation "a nice reward." She said Toyota "does not really care" for comments suggesting that "companies based in Japan or elsewhere overseas have some kind of advantage in the marketplace that is not related to their fine quality and other attributes."
The state treasurer, Phil Angelides, a Prius owner, also said Ford's remarks were out of line. Angelides, a Democrat, and Laurie David, the wife of David and a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council, came up with the idea for the car pool bill last year after collaborating on legislation intended to improve the fuel efficiency of state-owned vehicles.
"What Bill Ford ought to be doing is spending his time figuring out how to out-compete the Japanese," Angelides said. "The bill has objective standards, and any car company, including Ford, could produce a clean-burning, fuel-efficient hybrid that meets the standards."
Under the terms of the bill, the new rules will not take effect until Congress passes a waiver, now contained in a transportation financing bill bogged down in a Senate-House conference committee, allowing the change. The waiver is required because federal financing was used to build the car pool lanes beginning in the 1970s.
Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, a Democrat from Southern California who wrote the legislation, said she was surprised by the fuss raised by Ford and the union. To loosen the mileage requirements, Pavley said, would undermine the bill's purpose by making too many vehicles eligible and thereby clogging the car pool lanes. Already several thousand drivers of compressed natural gas and electric vehicles are permitted in the car pool lanes without passengers.
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