Toyota promises more electric models, investment

Wow what a turnaround for EV skeptic Toyoda in less than a year.

Guessing the board told Toyoda its EVs, or the highway for you.

It’s 2021 Toyota and you’re fast becoming dinosaurs. Wake up and get with the program or die.

Is Toyota still in business?

Toyota will survive in Japan for a while but I predict will go the same way Jp electronics firms like Sharp and Panasonic.

This sounds crazy, but not at all unrealistic.

Was watching this live stream along with a red haired arrogant Greenpeace east Asia spokesperson. It was funny to see her jaws dropoff for like a minute and then come back to senses.

Actually, Akio Toyoda is much smarter than the "experts" at JT think.

Everyone here is just second-guessing.

well what took them so long? In the meantime American, European and Korean automakers have already cemented their dominance in the EV segment with their own EV line ups.

The good news is that EV market is still in its early stages and evolving, so Toyota still has time to make a comeback.

It’s 2021 Toyota and you’re fast becoming dinosaurs

As long as Japan and other countries where Toyota has its cars manufactured continue to rely on burning huge amounts of fossil fuels to generate electricity the dinosaurs will slow any movement away from the fossil era. I expect to see gasoline fueled cars on the road well into the future, but for me the sooner they're gone the better. I do not like to breathe vehicle exhaust.

They are safer, faster and more fun to drive

Having driven a Tesla, I can say it was faster than most other cars I had driven, which makes me question his saying 'they are safer'. It was fun to drive on back country roads in the US, but I needed to regularly look down to check the speedometer. The acceleration was stunning.

Watching the Toyota presentation, it was pretty striking how no one spoke English in a global event like this.

When you see Hyundai/Kia doing similar press event, everyone speaks English.

Once you drive a BEV, it's hard to go back to an ICE.

Although I like my current ICE vehicle, I'm looking forward to owning a BEV again.

Incredible acceleration. Whisper quiet. And, never needing to stop at a service station.

Toyota is going to destroy all Japanese SMEs and mom-and-pop companies with this move.

https://electrek.co/2021/11/11/how-toyota-sneakily-spreads-anti-ev-propaganda-in-japan/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-24/electric-car-revolution-crushes-japan-s-struggling-small-towns

Changes are painful but necessary. However, the Japanese asset bubble collapse permanently destroyed the spending power/living wage power of Japanese citizens. They are poorly prepared for the upcoming changes because all tools have been destroyed by incompetent Japanese elites and wrathful American Plaza-Accord powermongers.

So are they starting from scratch or buying up a company?

Yeah, the Musk flavored Cool-Aid is on draft here.

How to say, "I know nothing about electric vehicles", without actually saying, "I know nothing about electric vehicles".

"How to say, 'I know nothing about electric vehicles', without actually saying blah blah blah..." Attack the message, NOT the messenger. What is your contribution?

Michael Machida

Is Toyota still in business?

What an incredibly ridiculous comment.

Toyota is one of the largest automobile companies in the world. It's not just the Toyota and Lexus brands. It also includes Daihatsu and Hino. They manufacture something like 10 million vehicles per year.

Yeah, they're still in business.

3RENSHO

"How to say, 'I know nothing about electric vehicles', without actually saying blah blah blah..." Attack the message, NOT the messenger. What is your contribution?

My contribution, in this case, was the mockery of the message that, BTW, had contributed nothing to the discussion.

My previous comment to the article itself contributed my personal experience with a BEV, and my desire to have one again here in Japan.

@Samit Basu

Akio Toyoda speaks English quite well. He just didn't speak in the event as he didn't wanna confuse the reporters(there was a QandA session after the event) who aren't good at English. He did his MBA in USA if I remember correctly.

@Sindhoor GK

Akio Toyoda speaks English quite well.

I am not talking about Toyoda Akio, as I saw him giving testimony at US Congress during the Toyota stuck Brake Pedal scandal.

I am saying that everyone in that presentation should have spoken English since it was billed as a global event.

All the sudden 'experts' here saying how behind Japan is with electric cars.

There's absolutely no justification to go all in with EVs at this point. 

Toyota is investigating all types of zero (solid state batteries), and almost-zero emission propulsion systems such as hydrogen and synthetic fuels. 

Toyota wouldn't jump into any particular zero emission technology so as to 'listen' to the user base and make options available and see which one made the most sense to develop further.

Yet the poorly informed, headline-only readers here will lambast Toyota as if they have sat on their hands the whole time doing nothing, waiting for something to happen.

Said very well.

I for one agree with this observation.

I am saying that everyone in that presentation should have spoken English since it was billed as a global event.

That's your opinion. Obviously, Toyota's management doesn't think so.

I'm having some doubts about the viability of mass EVs (beyond sectors like public transport and couriers). Governments have not really implemented the infrastructure for EVs. They are winding down ICE sales by crimping supply chains, but I just don't see enough political enthusiasm for the widespread private ownership of EVs. Are they concerned that the rare earth components will lead to a dependency upon China when a cold war-style split looks to be on the cards? Are they worried about the effect on dwindling energy sources? They seem happy to use rising prices for 2nd hand cars as a mechanism to reduce car ownership and use, with end dates for ICE sales. The media are increasingly running negative stories on Tesla, which is as good a guide to official sentiment now in the West as it always was in China. Autonomous motoring may never have been viable. If social media can be limited or shut down by threatening to hold executives liable for someone posting something nasty, will autonomous vehicle issues lead to car company executives being locked up? The most you may get is some help parking.

It is important for anyone in business (or investing) in the West to now monitor political sentiment as has always been done in China. Pre-Covid, politicians were starting to look parochial and obsolete. They have now taken back control, and a key feature of any due diligence in the West now needs to be an analysis not of consumer sentiment, but government sentiment. Do they want it? Will they allow it? Will they restrict it, one way or another? Our economy may no longer be consumer driven but state controlled. Anyone signing large cheques needs to take this into account.

Politicians have severely curtailed mass tourism. Will they also curtail mass car ownership?

Too little too late!!!

So in 2030 if Toyota plans to produce the same number of cars as today, about 10mil cars 3.5mil will be BEV, the rest will be ICE and mild Hybrid cars. In 2030 who wants to buy an ICE or Hybrid car?? This cars pollute, will cost more, running and maintenance cost is much higher, and the second-hand value will be lower. This will not be the car the mass market will be looking for which is Toyota's customer base today.

Next year Toyota will have to update its BEV production number if they want to stay in the top position also in 2030. The 3.5mil was updated from 2.5 just some months ago...............