When most people think of green cars, they think of Toyota – the manufacturer having firmly established itself as the market-leader through the success of the Prius model worldwide, the Yaris being named green car of the year and the hybrid Camry proving to be a massive seller in the USA.
Now Toyota is expanding its green commitment as the Toyota Fund for Europe launches “Eco-driving” – a new programme aimed at helping Europeans to save money at the pump and cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by as much as 10 per cent.
Along with NGO Network, Global Action Plan International, Toyota will organise up to 800 workshops that will reach an estimated 12,000 drivers across Spain, Iceland, Norway, Belgium and the UK. The company will also invest around €300,000 in Eco-driving expanding the programme to 10 countries by 2010.
The programme will target local authorities, private companies and community groups with trained supervisors teaching new driving practices on specially designed simulators that recreate the driving experience to see how far drivers can travel on just 0.1 litres of fuel.
Graham Smith, chairman of Toyota Fund Europe, believes that those taking part in the workshops can reap massive rewards.
“EcoDriving does not mean that drivers have to purchase costly devices or modify their vehicles,” he said.
“By making simple changes to every-day driving behaviours, every driver, no matter what kind of vehicle they own, can contribute and benefit. The European Climate Change Programme has calculated that EcoDriving can realise savings of at least 50 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in Europe and around €20 billion by 2010.”
