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Toyota's next CEO says management will lead aggressive push on EVs

35 Comments
By YURI KAGEYAMA

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Tesla already did that from 2008 by the way, where's Japanese all those time?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/14/business/corporate-business/toyota-ceo-defends-combustion-engines/

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

Toyota is being forced to change. They market this as their decision. It was market change a long time ago and as always, Japan lags behind the rest of the world on new technology.

-5 ( +13 / -18 )

FINALLY!

And if the gov't supports the recharging infrastructure and introduces laws to encourage solar all new buildings and large commercial roof spaces, recharging of all the new EVs could be realistic, and beneficial.

17 ( +19 / -2 )

Two words I did not see in this article are "autonomous" and "vehicle". That's a big difference with Tesla.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Sato and the other executives said the company's entire production system must be revamped to make quality EVs.

I'm interested in learning what Toyota might be doing to reduce its own use of electricity at Toyota factories, offices and vehicle dealerships.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

It's already too late. All the players have established their bases in the industry and supply chains. It's very difficult for Toyota doing anything at this point without surrendering major concessions. Like moving the company out of Japan to Southeast Asia and laying off almost all Japanese employees in Japan as a part.

After successfully moving into SEA, Toyota will have to parlay with local elites in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia to allow the majority ownership in local production and profit making. Toyota will likely follow in Honda's footsteps to pledge in the humiliating position of partnering up with a foreign corporation (Honda LG battery plant) to survive. Honda has to swallow its pride in partnering with LG, while Japanese people display utter contempt towards Honda for its stance of siding with Koreans who Japanese people largely view as inferior people.

If Toyota and any Japanese company want to survive in the EV evolution, then they must shred away the worthless Nihonjinron and adapt to reality. Have to make major concessions!

-17 ( +7 / -24 )

social changes like electrification

Because, in the end, electrification is merely a social or cosmetic change. It shifts emissions somewhere else and uses up more exotic metals and that's about it. Time to get out of car production entirely.

-9 ( +8 / -17 )

2026, bit late?

Meanwhile I just want to buy a small 4wd electric kei van, it's unobtainable, ridiculous.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Charging stations are also seriously lacking in Japan. Are the LDP MLIT going to do something about this?

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Tesla already did that from 2008 by the way, where's Japanese all those time?

Dragging their feet and burying their heads in the sand and denouncing any change as unjapanese

Toyota is being forced to change. They market this as their decision. It was market change a long time ago and as always, Japan lags behind the rest of the world on new technology.

We saw this happen also during the smartphone revolution. The Japanese companies refused to begin smartphone production- letting Apple and Samsung get a huge foothold in Japan that NEVER let up. And as a result, the Japanese smartphones do not have the global presence of their predecessors, the cell phones.

If Toyota and any Japanese company want to survive in the EV evolution, then they must shred away the worthless Nihonjinron and adapt to reality. Have to make major concessions!

That's never going to happen. Hence the lost decades that Japan has stagnated under.

-8 ( +7 / -15 )

Many of the materials used in batteries are refined in China and coal is still the predominate energy source. Belching more CO2 than saving at the tailpipe.

Its all a scam if you’re thinking it saves emissions. And let’s not even talk about the incremental increase in electricity generation to charge. Where’s that going to come from? The electricity fairy?

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

How about an aggressive push on making more units! Having to wait a year for a new Toyota without being able to lock in the price is ludicrous!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Ultimately Electric is the best way and when done properly throughout the supply chain it will lead to much lower CO2 emissions. Many people, mainly the cynics, just think about today and not the future. Today they're correct, just shifting the emission from the tail pipe to the smokestack. But what about 20, 40, or 100 years from now. By that time the whole process will be done without 1 liter of fuel burned. You have to start somewhere. We're trying to change the world from controlled explosive combustion to cleaner electric. Right next to the Tesla Giga Battery factory in Sparks, Nevada a Lithium recycling factory is being built and others are coming online this year. We all know better battery technology is the main problem. Slowly but surely battery weight to power ratios have been improving. When the electricity to charge the batteries is mainly coming from Nuclear Reactors and the Sun the world may just be a better cleaner place.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

I’m 100% for EVs. But, all houses need solar panels we need China’s rare earth metals. That means we need to become closer to China. If this will disrupt USA war plans for us to go to war with China in 2025, then so be it. Economically and environmentally EV are the future.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Toyota, we believe in you!

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

The Korean car companies are buying engines from the Chinese, hopefully the trustworthy Japanese companies will make reliable and efficient engines that are not borrowed from China. Japan number one!

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

I hope they pull through and make that FJ cruiser EV concept they showcased a reality. I wouldn't mind taking that bad boy off-road camping.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Toyota continues to be the top seller in California, but every year Tesla closes the gap.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

the ex CEO was against EVs, he step back because he disagreed with the strategy. the EVs market is pushed by the WEST agenda... hybrid car is the best and most needed...

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

@Erik Morales

The Korean car companies are buying engines from the Chinese,

Excuse me?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

It will be inferior to the competition.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

E-cars cannot travel far in line with the agenda to restrict people within the 15- minute cities now being implemented in 7 major cities. Don’t forget to install the kill switches that can remotely stop your car if you try to get away far.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I agree with ifd66 in that cars are only part of a system needing vastly increased generation and distribution of electricity and charging infrastructure. Toyota or someone else could be making the world's best electric car (the world's top selling one is made by Nissan), but these other parts of the system are not in place and do not look hopeful. The government may have targets and climate goals, but they all look highly unlikely.

Instead of having copious amounts of electricity, in Japan we have power companies telling us to economize, asking manufacturers to stagger shifts, and skyrocketing electricity prices. What does anyone think is going to happen when you need 400V and a large current to fast charge the grand total of one car? That's a lot of copper that's going to have to be buried (hopefully) or strung up in the air. It'll improve in the future, but I wouldn't want to have to charge a car on the expressway in Golden Week. I doubt a charger will be available when you turn up.

Thanks to Japan's high electricity prices, the fuel cost of a Nissan Leaf is now no cheaper per km than a diesel like our CX-5. A CX-5 is a much better car.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Honest question: do we have the resources to move to the majority of cars being electric? Every year we hear about electricity shortages and stress in the grid. What happens when millions of cars are added to that equation?

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Don’t hurry too much. If that stupid bubble bursts one day sooner or later, they have hopefully still the one or other conventional motor driven car in store for us. lol

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Better late than never.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@kohakuebisu

A CX-5 is a much better car.

But banned in EU, California, Oregon, Washington, and New York by 2035.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Where does the power for all of these cars come from?

Solar? Hydro? Nuclear? Tidal? Geothermal? Oil? Gas? Coal? Wind?

Do tell...

And the heavy metals mined by kids in the Congo?

That's another story.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The power should mainly be coming from Nuclear and the Sun.... at least until Fusion is perfected and we don't know when that will happen. Smaller Nuclear power plants along with Solar is probably the best near term solution. I'd be willing to bet that decades ago... the fossil fuel world downplayed Nuclear in order to continue their dominance. Yes, we had Fukushima and Chernobyl, and agreed, very scary prospects, but going forward we need to work with smaller Nuclear facilities that are less costly and safer. What is the alternative... keep burning everything we can until what?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Good timing Toyota.

Toyota is one of the leading car companies in the world. Coming only 2nd to GM in the US market in 2022.

They have been super successful with their hybrid cars which came way before the EV boom. They also had the Mirai series and Fuel Cell car, sure the market isn't really ready yet, and hydrogen is still expensive to produce. I do think Hydrogen will take off down the road though.

So Toyota has in fact had a foothold in the environmentally friendly car for a while now ( first Pruis, 1997).

Sure Tesla is doing great with EVs and there are lots of other players, Polestar, BMW, Hyundai, etc. One thing though is most EV's aren't cheap and I think Toyota will come up with a solution. We shall see.

I don't think it's too late as some of you have suggested.

Another question is whether Japan itself is ready for EV, after all, were is the Electricity coming from?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@Seamus78

One thing though is most EV's aren't cheap and I think Toyota will come up with a solution. We shall see.

Wishful thinking from Japanophiles and arrogant Japanese nationalists. Japan only did well in the 20th century through massive support from the US and that WW2 destroyed every other country. Japan was effectively competing with just the US, which was propping up Japan immensely prior to the Plaza Accords.

Japan has failed to compete on a level playing field, especially when they're competing with far more countries today than just the US. Don't hold your breath. Japanese EVs will be inferior to Tesla.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Japan has failed to compete on a level playing field, especially when they're competing with far more countries today than just the US. Don't hold your breath. Japanese EVs will be inferior to Tesla.

Sure JoshK, not denying that TESLA is doing great, but they are still expensive though. Yes, they reduced the cost this year, a good move.

Give the new Toyota CEO and team a chance. Too much naysaying and pessimism.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Seamus78

What basis are you using to say Toyota will revolutionize EVs?

Tesla created the octovalve, implemented giga and mega castings, created structural battery packs, etc. What has Toyota done except release the embarrassing BZ4X with more quality problems than the cheapest Chinese cars? What battery tech or innovation can they possibly offer than other companies don't have?

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Sure we need charging infrastructure. And, we need clean generation of electricity. And, battery and pumped storage. I think, that most of all, Japan needs to just massively build battery factories. They need to get this shovel ready asap. Massively. Will create jobs. And, help the economy. But, Japan can build very few BEV or storage without the battery supply chain in place. And, we need to build them here.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I sure hope Toyota's employees don't have too bad of a whiplash with this 180 degrees change in direction. The sad thing is that Toyota will release some half**sed car and everyone will buy it, instead of challenging Toyota to really make something good.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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