Toyota – not to mention General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – made serious waves recently with regards to the state-versus-federal battle over who has authority to set vehicle emissions standards in the United States. In short, these automakers support a single national standard, which falls in line with the Trump administration’s position on the matter. As part of the newly formed Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation and in a separate statement, Toyota expressed complete neutrality on the subject. Thanks to some insight in a recent tweet from Dave Cooke, however, there could be some cracks in Toyota’s claim.

As a refresher, President Trump wants a rollback of fuel economy standards set under the Obama administration. Meanwhile, four other automakers – Ford, BMW, Honda, and Volkswagen – made an independent deal with California earlier this year for significantly higher standards. This is a political hot button if there ever was one, especially with the U.S. House of Representatives poised to hold an official impeachment vote against President Trump, and polls suggesting a majority of Americans support it. Taking any sort of position is a risky move right now for businesses large and small, which brings us to how Toyota is handling this matter.

You can read Toyota’s full statement here or at the press release button below, but the highlights emphasize Toyota’s neutrality “not as a plaintiff or a defendant, and not to favor any political party.” The statement also described – at some length – how Toyota is “proud of our history of environmental achievements and progress.” Of particular interest is the following passage:

“We do not believe that there should be different fuel economy standards in different states. There should be one standard for all Americans and all auto companies. That is why we decided to be part of this legal matter. Doing so does not diminish our commitment to the environment, nor does it lower our desire to manufacture vehicles that produce fewer emissions year-after-year.”

With that in mind, let’s jump back to the tweet above. A report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) titled Highlights of the Automotive Trends Report outlines a range of statistics covering everything from fuel mileage to technology in vehicles. One graph in particular compares mileage and emissions changes for the 13 largest automakers in the U.S. market over the last five years. Guess which automaker was the only one to have a decline in both metrics? You guessed it: Toyota.

The decline is small, but still, the statistics seem to be at odds with Toyota’s statement. Furthermore, while Toyota isn’t at the bottom, it certainly falls in the bottom half of this list. Coincidently, GM and FCA – automakers joining Toyota on the coalition – are at the very bottom. And all three are selling SUVs and pickup trucks in the U.S. market like golden hotcakes. According to Toyota’s latest sales figures, total truck sales (which include SUVs) through September 2019 are at 989,532 whereas car sales are at 688,796.

Yes, Toyota is a hybrid leader, but only the RAV4 and Highlander are offered with such powertrains in the SUV segment, and none are offered in trucks. Furthermore, another graph in the EPA report suggests Toyota is rather stagnant on developing technology outside of hybrid systems.

We won’t read between the lines here, but we have reached out to Toyota with this EPA report and asked for a comment on its findings that are decidedly unfavorable towards the Japanese automaker. A representative told us the company was looking into it, and we will certainly provide an update as soon as we hear back.