Despite the fact that the RX 400h premiered in 2004, Obama administration Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood expressed a different vision of history when he and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson were discussing vehicle fuel standards at the Aspen Ideas Festival on July 3.

“I don’t think the car manufacturers would be manufacturing the cars they are manufacturing today as hybrids, if it weren’t for what the president did in signing the executive order and what Lisa and I have done over the last three and half years about developing C.A.F.E. (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards for automobiles and light trucks that will get 54.4 miles per gallon by 2025.”

“I think we jump started the ability,” said LaHood. “When you see now a Lexus hybrid, no one would have ever predicted that 2 years ago. Every car manufacturer is getting into hybrid. I think we jump started those opportunities.”