California promotes "Buy Japanese"
According to this article, California is trying to pass a bill that would allow hybreds to use the "high occupancy vehicle" lanes even with only 1 person in the car. But the law stipulates that only hybreds that get 45mpg or more would be allowed to use them. Toyota and Honda's hybreds get 45mpg, Ford, which has the only American hybred so far, only gets 31 mpg.
And guess what, Toyota has 3 Automotive Manufacturing plants in California. Hmmm, I wonder if that has any influence on the bill or not. Just asking.