For auto giant Toyota , the market will demand “a mix of different types of vehicles” and not just electric.
Toyota does not believe in electric cars as the solution to environmental pollution and has decided to continue forging a hybrid future.
“Time is on our side. This shortage, not only of battery materials, but also of charging infrastructure, will make it abundantly clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and that the best answer is actually a mixture of different types of vehicles,” Gill Pratt, Toyota ‘s chief scientist, told Automotive News .
Electric no, hybrid yes
Toyota is no stranger to this current, but the results have not been as expected.
For example, the Toyota BZ4x , its first electric model, has only sold 1,200 units in the world. Models like the Toyota Mirai, which is committed to hydrogen and fuel cells, have only sold 2,000 units.
In the United States, Toyota ‘s electric car sales forecast for the year is 10,000 units, a much lower figure compared to, for example, the 200,000 Tesla Model 3 sold by Elon Musk’s company in that country.
In practice, the European Union has decided that its vehicles, in the future in the medium and long term, will be electric. Toyota doesn’t want that path.
It’s not the only one
Other companies like BMW have the same thought.
“If you no longer sell combustion engines, someone else will,” CEO Olivier Zipse said in 2022.
“With the six-cylinder engine alone, we are reducing CO2 emissions more than ever with a generation change,” he stresses.