Toyota CEO warns against hype about electric cars, seeing them as just an option in his ‘department store’ of powertrains
Toyota Motor Corp plans to keep gas-powered cars as a key part of its product line, rejecting attempts by rivals to switch to all-electric power amid concerns about consumers. how quickly they will adopt new technology.
According to CEO Akio Toyoda, while the world’s largest automaker will introduce more electric vehicles in the coming years, it will also offer a range of other options, including petrol-electric hybrids. , traditional fossil fuel and hydrogen powered vehicles, according to CEO Akio Toyoda, who met with reporters on Thursday.
Toyoda, grandson of the automaker’s founder, told dealers to gather in Las Vegas. He is committed to providing the “widest possible” range of powertrains to push cars clean.
“That’s our strategy and we’re sticking to it,” he said.
Toyota’s stance reflects many and sometimes contradictory considerations for automakers seeking to boost sales, serve diverse customer bases and meet today’s environmental standards. stricter in many countries. Decisions that are contrary to those of competitors, such as Synthetic engine The company has committed to going all-electric by 2035.
Environmentalists and shareholders have criticized Toyota for falsifying electric vehicle adoption, while Greenpeace ranks the brand last in its rankings of efforts. decarbonization of global automakers. Critics have accused Toyota of clinging to its 25-year history with the Prius petrol-electric hybrid, which has earned Toyota plenty of praise.
“The reality is: a hybrid technology today is not a green technology,” Katherine Garcia, Sierra Club’s Clean Transport for All campaign manager, wrote in a blog post last month. “The Prius hybrid runs on the polluting combustion engine found in any gas-powered car.”
Toyota’s electric car commitment
Last year, the company pledged to spend 4 trillion yen, or $28 billion, to roll out 30 EV by 2030. However, that number is less than $50 billion Ford Motor Co. are spending to build EVs through 2026.
Despite the apparent disparity, Toyoda said his company has been investing in battery-powered hybrids for more than two decades. That makes Toyota a “leader” in reducing carbon emissions from vehicles around the world, he said.
“Our investments may be smaller than others, but when you look at what Toyota has done over the past 20 years, the total amount may not necessarily be small,” said Toyoda. ‘ said Toyoda.
The CEO said the lack of adequate infrastructure would hold back electric vehicle adoption rates, which was a factor in the decision not to go all-in.
“Toyota is a department store of all types of powertrains,” he said. “It is not true for the department store to say “This is the product you should buy”.
Toyoda expressed skepticism that automakers will be able to hit California’s regulation banning gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and claim a significant portion of sales are electric. in 2030. New York say Thursday it will make the same provisions.
“We have to look at the price range and availability of existing infrastructure and how fast they will upgrade,” he said. “Really speaking, it seems quite difficult to achieve.”
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