In the face of an increasingly heated global electric vehicle market, Toyota is rethinking its electric vehicle strategy in order to pick up the pace it has clearly lagged behind.
Toyota announced in December that it would invest $38 billion in the electrification transition and would launch 30 electric vehicles by 2030. The plan is currently undergoing an internal review to assess whether adjustments are necessary.
According to Reuters, it quoted four sources as saying that Toyota plans to cut some electric vehicle projects and add some new ones.
The source said that Toyota may consider developing a successor to the e-TNGA architecture, using new technologies to extend the life of the platform, or simply redeveloping an all-new electric vehicle platform. However, considering that it takes a long time (about 5 years) to develop a new car platform, Toyota may develop a “new e-TNGA” and a new pure electric platform at the same time.
What is currently known is that the CompactCruiserEV off-road pure electric vehicle and pure electric crown model projects previously in the “30 electric vehicles” lineup may be cut off.
In addition, Toyota is working with suppliers and considering factory innovations to reduce costs, such as the use of Tesla’s Giga die-casting machine, a large one-piece casting machine, to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
If the above news is true, it means that Toyota will usher in a major change.
As a traditional car company that has been deeply involved in the hybrid field for many years, Toyota has great advantages in electrification transformation, at least it has a relatively solid foundation in motor and electronic control. But today’s electric vehicles are already two directions that intelligent electric vehicles cannot escape in the new era in terms of intelligent cabin and intelligent driving. Traditional car companies such as BBA have made some moves in advanced autonomous driving, but Toyota has basically made little progress in these two areas.
This is reflected in the bZ4X launched by Toyota. The response speed of the car has improved compared with Toyota’s fuel vehicles, but compared with Tesla and a number of domestic new forces, there is still a big gap.
Akio Toyoda once said that until the final technical route is clear, it is not wise to put all the treasures on pure electrification, but electrification is always a hurdle that cannot be avoided. Toyota’s readjustment of its electrification strategy this time proves that Toyota realizes that it needs to face the problem of electrification transformation head-on.
The pure electric bZ series is the forerunner of Toyota’s electric strategic planning, and the market performance of this series will largely represent the success or failure of Toyota’s transformation in the electric era. A total of 7 models are planned for the Toyota bZ pure electric exclusive series, of which 5 models will be introduced into the Chinese market. At present, the bZ4X has been launched, and the bZ3 has been unveiled in the domestic market. We look forward to their performance in the Chinese market.
Post time: Oct-27-2022