Toyota has been forced by the UK Advertising Standards Authority to withdraw a television advert for its Prius hybrid car because it made erroneous claims about the car's environmental performance.
According to the ASA, Toyota's claim that the car produced around 1-tonne less of CO2 per year than a conventional car was based on the figures relating to the US market and were not indicative of European driving conditions, or, for that matter, the diesel-powered European competition.
According to a report in this morning's Guardian newspaper, the ASA agreed the Prius emitted "significantly less" CO2 than some other cars with greater engine capacity, but added that "we did not consider their evidence demonstrated that it emitted one tonne less than equivalent vehicles with diesel engines or that it took into account the average annual distance driven by private cars in the UK".
Toyota has pulled the ad from UK airwaves, but it's not known if it will have to alter its Irish advertising yet.
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