The day after Musk was elected 2021 Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Toyota released 16 electric vehicles in Japan in one go under the auspices of Toyota motor head Akio Toyoda.
Time magazine commented that Musk is "good at making big decisions under great pressure."
For Toyota, which has vigorously developed hybrid and hydrogen fuel cells, some people say that Toyota has repeatedly gambled on the technical route, so that it misses the first market value of automobile companies.
More than a decade ago, Toyota and Tesla also intersected. After a meeting in the United States, Akio Toyoda decided to invest in Tesla, with which Toyota has worked on battery supply and U.S. oem of Toyota electric vehicles.
When the wave of smart electric swept the world, Musk and Toyota Akio already had a completely different understanding of the prospects and innovation of the automobile manufacturing industry, Toyota sold Tesla stock, and the cooperation between the two was terminated.
In July last year, when Tesla surpassed Toyota in market capitalization to become the car company with the highest market value, Tesla ignited hope for more new car companies and made veteran car companies feel pressure.
Even so, Toyota is still full of disdain for Tesla.
Akio Toyoda believes that Tesla is a restaurant that promotes novel recipes, while Toyota has real chefs and kitchens that can make real food.
Akio Toyoda, who claimed to be able to provide recipes, did not renege on his word this time.
Even if 16 electric vehicles are released in one go, in the speech of Toyota head Akio Toyoda, you will find that for electrification, Toyota still believes that it is only one of the options for the future.
"The decision on what kind of car to choose is not in us, but in the market and consumers everywhere. We want to provide consumers with as many options as possible before the final correct route is clear. ”
As for why Toyota has not proposed the goal of "100% electrification" like other car companies, Akio Toyoda also gave a cautious understanding: "Different situations around the world require diversified solutions, and in uncertain times, I want to use a variety of solutions to solve." ”
Cautious Toyota and ostentatious Tesla, who can bet on the future of the global automotive market?
Before 2021, Toyota's investment in the Chinese market is still a water oil to electricity products, Toyota's hesitation in electrification can be seen.
This year, Toyota first released the bZ4X concept car at the Shanghai Auto Show, which finally made people shine in electrification.
Among the 16 electric vehicles released by Toyota, there are 5 new electric vehicles of the sub-brand bZ, 4 Lexus models, and 7 pure electric concept cars, covering cars, SUVs, MPVs, sports cars, pickups and K-Cars.
bZ series lineup
This was probably the product release lineup of Evergrande, the richest man in China at that time.
Of course, Toyota is much more serious than Evergrande.
With so many electric vehicle products released at once, Toyota seems to be announcing that Toyota is not unprepared for electrification, but hidden.
There are two determinations to verify electrification: investment and goal.
The Volkswagen Group plans to invest 35 billion euros in electrification and 27 billion euros in digitalization by 2025.
The Great Wall, which implements a strategic onslaught, announced that its R&D investment plan is 100 billion yuan by 2025.
Toyota, which has been investing heavily in research and development, plans to invest $35 billion in electric vehicles by 2030, and plans to invest $35 billion to continue to develop hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell models, while toyota plans to invest $17.6 billion in batteries.
By 2030, Toyota will launch 30 pure electric vehicles, and Toyota will sell 3.5 million electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles worldwide every year.
Still analogous with Volkswagen and the Great Wall, Volkswagen previously announced that the 2025 target is 3 million new energy vehicles, and the Great Wall has proposed a goal to surpass Volkswagen: 3.2 million new energy vehicles will be sold in 2025.
Compared with the transformation plans of multinational car companies and Chinese car companies, Toyota's goal is not too aggressive.
The information also included:
Toyota's electric vehicles will be named the bZ series, meaning "Beyond ZERO," a series of models built on the BEV's exclusive platform.
Lexus will transform the pure electric brand. By 2030, Lexus will have an electric version of each car series, and in Europe, North America and China, it will achieve 100% electric model sales by 2030, reaching the global sales target of 1 million vehicles.
Toyota will also vigorously produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Akio Toyoda also revealed the progress of solid-state batteries, which Toyota is currently developing, promising to achieve the ability to accelerate to zero hundred in 2 seconds, as well as the endurance of 700 kilometers.
Today, Volkswagen, GM, and Ford have all launched a round of electrification offensives in the Chinese market, but for the former fuel car kings, especially japanese car companies with a stable position in China's traditional car market, they have found it increasingly difficult to impress the Chinese market.
Under the carbon neutrality, industry transformation, and market-driven layer by layer, Toyota's electrification offensive, although fierce, also adheres to its own rational judgment.
In addition to large-scale electrification, Toyota has not announced more plans and progress on digitalization and intelligence.
When the development momentum of global smart electric vehicles seems to have been irreversible, and the competition in the automotive field has also opened up a new dimension, Toyota's electrification strategy release, and it does not all in electrification, it seems to be prompting the entire automotive industry: please keep calm thinking.