Toyota is considering a reboot of its electric vehicle strategy
Some of the 30 electric vehicles announced last year have no production lines.
In early September, Toyota announced that it would double down on its EV production strategy. It maintains its path to a $38 billion electrification plan announced in 2021.
But things aren’t that simple inside Toyota, a new report says, and the company is not only trying to catch up with Tesla, but is also frantically trying to rethink its EV strategy. but other established automakers have embraced electrification well.
Reuters reported late last month that four people familiar with the strategy change said the automaker would change previously announced plans and redistribute $38 billion to better uses.
According to reports, Toyota has halted work on several of its 30 EVs unveiled last year, although some projects have not been halted.
The source report says Toyota has now stopped work on two EVs: the Crown sedan and the production version of the Compact Cruiser Concept shown in 2021.
And the change of plan will naturally result in delays and some models being cut completely – this seems like quite a radical change of direction, but at the same time, it’s not unheard-of in the industry.
Indeed, the shift from Jaguar to electric vehicles has resulted in one of the best examples of an important policy shift. The historic British brand was working on a second custom EV, the all-electric XJ sedan, but that project fell through under a new CEO and the brand is now set to launch three battery-powered SUVs it plans to put on the market 2025.
Toyota has formed a special task force to revise the original plan. They apparently have until early next year to introduce the new strategy, and we’re curious to see how big the change will be. Reuters asked Toyota for comment on the matter, but the manufacturer would only say so
Achieving carbon neutrality is important not only for Toyota’s own technology, but also for its work with various partners and suppliers.
Still, Toyota has its own bespoke electric vehicle platform, which it debuted in the bZ4X, so it’s not as far behind rivals as some might think.
And last year’s announcement of bold plans to launch 30 EVs meant a shift in the company’s outlook, arguably fueled by Tesla’s continued success in the market as well as niche electric models from other OEMs.