Toyota Drives Home the Green Point

Toyota is rolling out a big PR campaign that stresses its green credentials—under attack now that the car giant has teamed up with Detroit to fight tighter fuel standards. A new ad shows a Prius being built out of sticks in a meadow, and the company crows over its eco-cred in promotional materials printed in soy ink on recycled paper, MSNBC reports.

Meanwhile, environmentalists are increasingly unhappy with Toyota, thanks to the company's resistance to mileage standards as well as its continued reliance on big trucks and SUVs. Toyota "has gone from the darling child of environmentalists to the bad guy for environmentalists fairly rapidly,” says an automotive analyst. Waiting in the eco-wings? Honda, says the analyst. (More Toyota stories.)