Toyota has committed to an all-electric vehicle strategy, continuing on with the $38 billion electrification plan announced in 2021, despite an announcement to the contrary made in early September. A new report claims that this Toyota all-electric vehicle plan is now up in the air and Toyota is scrambling to rethink its EV strategy to compete with Tesla and other automakers that are already producing electric vehicles.
Four sources familiar with the matter inside Toyota told Reuters that the automaker is currently considering a retooling of its electric car strategy and has halted work on some of its 30 existing electric car projects.
The e-TNGA chassis was developed so that Toyota could produce all-electric vehicles on the same assembly lines as gasoline and hybrid vehicles, but this presents a number of challenges. A third of Toyota’s current global volume will need to be electric vehicles by 2030, so this partnership makes sense, sources said.
The bZ4X, released at the beginning of the year, was the first product to use the e-TNGA platform. It got mixed reviews at best at launch. Toyota eventually pulled the plug on production when wheels began falling off of early models. To put it mildly, it was not a good beginning.
Is the Toyota all-electric vehicle Plan changing direction?
As a result of the unexpectedly high demand for all-electric vehicles, automakers around the world are planning for EVs to account for more than half of total vehicle production by 2030, riding a wave of industry-wide investment that has risen to over $1.2 trillion.
The company is rumoured to have formed a new working group charged with deciding whether to continue developing the current e-TNGA platform or to create a brand new platform tailored specifically to electric vehicles.
What are the upcoming Toyota all-electric vehicles so far?
In recent years, Toyota has repeatedly lagged behind the rest of the auto industry. A major factor in this is due to the President of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, unwilling o believe the future is all-electric. Although the Toyota Crown, a new plug-in hybrid sedan from Toyota, is set to debut soon, its release date is so far in the future that the car is not likely to do well in the marketplace.
The report’s source also claims that Toyota has abandoned the development of two electric vehicles: the Crown sedan and a production version of the Compact Cruiser Concept debuted in 2021. Taking such a drastic turn may seem unprecedented, but it actually happens quite frequently in this field.
What are the potential changes?
Toyota reportedly formed a dedicated team to brainstorm potential enhancements to the existing all-electric vehicle strategy. We can’t wait to hear about the new strategy, which they apparently won’t unveil until early in the new year. Toyota was asked to comment by Reuters, but the company only offered a cryptic statement. Here’s what they said: “In order to achieve carbon neutrality, Toyota’s own technology, as well as the work we are doing with a range of partners and suppliers, is essential.”
To lower production costs, Toyota is collaborating with suppliers and thinking about manufacturing innovations like Tesla’s Giga Press, a massive casting machine that has streamlined production at Tesla’s plants.
One of the sources familiar with the matter said that this is a “top priority” for Toyota suppliers Denso and Aisin. Because it could allow Toyota to reduce the size and weight of an EV battery pack and cut costs by thousands of dollars per vehicle.
Conclusion
Some Toyota engineers and executives, the sources claim, believe that Toyota was losing the factory cost war to Tesla on EVs, which prompted these changes. They state that the company wrongly predicted that EV demand would not skyrocket for decades. As a result, Toyota is now 10 years behind the market leader and 5 years behind its closest competitor.
What did you think about the Toyota all-electric vehicle plan when they announced it last year? What are your predictions for Toyota’s electric vehicle sales over the next five years? Tell us in the comments!