No focus on electric cars: Toyota boss defies criticism
Created: 10/05/2022 12:13 p.m
By: Simon Mones
The electric car continues to conquer the world.
At Toyota, you don't want to commit yourself to that and think you're on the road to victory.
The time of the combustion engine is running out slowly but surely.
Numerous manufacturers have already committed themselves to the electric car and the EU will also largely ban diesel and petrol engines from 2035.
At Toyota, however, they are quite unimpressed and continue to swim against the tide.
With the bz4x, the Japanese have only one Stromer on offer, another purely electric model is to follow soon.
Nevertheless, one wants to stick to the current strategy, emphasized Toyota boss Akio Toyoda.
He predicts serious problems for manufacturers who rely entirely on electric cars.
The same applies to their customers,
giga.de
reports .
Toyota boss Akio Toyoda wants to continue to offer different drives.
© AFLO/Imago
No focus on electric cars: Toyota defies criticism
Toyota, meanwhile, wants to continue to "satisfy the largest possible number of customers, with the largest possible selection of drives," emphasized Toyoda according to
CNBC
at a meeting with US Toyota dealers.
In addition to pure electric cars, this also includes hybrids and plug-in hybrids, where the Japanese were one of the pioneers.
In addition, one wants to hold on to the hydrogen fuel cell.
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“For me, playing to win also means doing things differently.
Doing things that others might question, but which we believe will keep us winning the longest," Toyoda said at the US dealer meeting.
A statement that comes as little surprise after the Toyota bosses had rejected electromobility in 2021.
No focus on electric cars: Toyota expects “huge shortages” of lithium and nickel
Recently, however, there has been increased criticism of the strategy, both from investors and environmentalists.
However, Toyota justifies the path it has taken by saying that the switch to electric cars will not take place as quickly as is often assumed.
In addition, the poor infrastructure and customer habits would speak against it.
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In addition, Toyota expects an "enormous shortage" of lithium and nickel suitable for battery production in the next five to ten years.
For the car manufacturers, there would then be further problems in the supply chains and production restrictions.
A problem that the Japanese want to circumvent with the wide range.