The elephant turned and moved its whole body. This time, Toyota finally couldn't sit still.
On December 14, Akio Toyoda announced through the press conference that the company expects to invest $35 billion in electric vehicle research and development by 2030, and Toyota will launch 30 pure electric models around the world, providing a comprehensive lineup of products in various fields including passenger cars and commercial vehicles. By 2030, the global annual sales of electric models are planned to reach 3.5 million units.
Regarding Lexus, Akio Toyoda revealed that by 2030, it will achieve 100% pure electric vehicles in Europe, North America and China, and this goal will be expanded to the world in 2035.
Fifteen years from now, Lexus will be a pure electric luxury brand.
In response to the above plan, Toyota released 15 pure electric vehicles at one time, covering multiple market segments such as cars, SUVs, off-road and sports cars.
Soldiers
If electrification is a revolution for global car companies, then Toyota has long played the role of a conservative force.
Probably not just conservative, but rather stubborn.
As toyota's best spokesman, Akio Toyoda has been angry with Tesla, meaningfully warned Apple to build cars, publicly contradicted the Japanese government's ban on combustion, teamed up with Japanese car companies to refuse to sign the Glasgow Climate Convention, and even denied the acceleration of the global electrification industry.
The rejection of electrification has almost become Toyota's new label.
Anti-pure electricity, not anti-electric; anti-carbon dioxide, not anti-internal combustion engine, is toyota's consistent attitude.
I still remember that in June 2019, at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Lexus brand, Hiroharu Sato, executive vice president of Lexus International, said: For Lexus, the word electrification has a wide meaning, including hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, pure electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The focus of the final product launch will be determined according to the market demand.
At that time, Toyota's global strategic plan was to sell more than 5.5 million electrified vehicles worldwide by 2030. But among them, pure electric vehicles, even including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, are only planned to sell a total of 1 million.
There must be a demon when things go wrong, this time Toyota came to a 180-degree U-turn, stunned to make us confused.
Toyota unveiled 15 new pure trams. At its core is the bZ series, whose first product, the SUV model bZ4X, was previously released at the Guangzhou Auto Show.
Also unveiled were the bZ Compact SUV, bZ Small Crossover, bZ SDN and bZ Large SUV, involving four SUVs and a sedan.
Of course, it also includes the Lifestyle electric car series, which represents the imagination of new mobility modes in the future. The series covers pure electric supercars, off-road SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, etc.;
As for Lexus, it is also a huge camp, not only the Lexus RZ that will be mass-produced, but also the Electrified SUV, electrified Sedan and Electrified Sport three concept cars, corresponding to SUVs, sedans and sports cars respectively.
In the grand occasion, you must pour cold water on Toyota.
No matter how cunning the fox has a tail, no matter how loud the press conference, it cannot hide the fact that Toyota's electrification accumulation is insufficient.
If you have to release a characterization for this new car, the composition of the show is greater than the actual meaning.
On the one hand, among the total ten new cars, there are many models that have been converted from oil to electricity. On the other hand, the vast majority of models are concept cars that do not have a clear production time.
To put it bluntly, the development process of these concept cars in Toyota's 26 years can basically be seen as a simple thing as moving from the laboratory to the press conference site.
Although Akio Toyoda released a huge smoke screen, although it seemed to be enough to cover the sky, it could not cover up Toyota's undetermined blueprint for electrification.
Plot
So, who is Toyota going to play this play to?
Before teslas appeared, Toyota was one of the world's most profitable automakers. There is no secret to Toyota making money, not only the product makes money, but the industrial chain is also very profitable.
Toyota is not a car company, but a huge industrial empire.
On the one hand, in addition to the Toyota department, Toyota also has Daihatsu Motors, which occupies the largest market share of K-Car in Japan, and Hino Motors, Japan's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer.
On the other hand, in the automotive industry chain, Toyota is an unquestionable industrial giant.
Denso, Aisin Seiki, Toyota Boshoku, Aichi Steel, JTEKT, Toyoda Sasyo, Toyota Tsusho and other well-known auto parts companies cover the whole industrial chain of powertrain, chassis control, seats, steel, bearings, optoelectronics, finance and so on.
A simpler understanding is that throughout Japan, a vertically integrated trust centered on Toyota Manufacturing has been formed that radiates the entire industrial chain.
With this industrial trust, Toyota has the strongest cost control capabilities and advantages in the world. This is also the key reason why Volkswagen can compete with Toyota in terms of sales, but always rank behind Toyota in terms of profitability.
Without the birth of Teslas, Toyota could have operated its own industrial empire step by step, but Teslas appeared and came with a menacing force.
For Toyota, the revolution in the automobile industry is not as simple as simply changing from a fuel vehicle to an electric vehicle, but to revolutionize the advantages of the whole industrial chain built by Toyota based on fuel vehicles.
Once Toyota loses this advantage, then Toyota will no longer be a giant with sound and color, and may even become a dispensable existence.
In fact, the process has already begun.
This year's Q3 financial report was released, Tesla's gross profit margin was close to 30%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than Toyota's, and the bicycle profit reached 3 times that of Toyota.
Toyota looks at its proud industrial chain and may suddenly break out in a cold sweat.
More afraid than Teslas is China's new energy industry chain.
Nowadays, the world's largest and most complete new energy vehicle industry chain is not in Japan, let alone under the control of Toyota, but in China - in Shanghai, Anhui, Guangdong, Chengdu, Chongqing and other places to form a large-scale industrial cluster.
At present, China's new energy industry cluster is around Tesla, BYD, Xiaopeng, Weilai, Volkswagen is turning, and Toyota, and Japanese car companies have basically nothing to do with it.
At present, Toyota's pure tram layout in the world is very weak, far from forming an industrial synergy effect.
This is the core reason why Toyota does not know the taste and cannot sleep at night.
Teslas want to kill Toyota in products, and China's new energy industry chain must kill the Japanese auto industry at the industrial level.
One is the product side, the other is the industrial chain end, and it is only a matter of time for Toyota.
If we have such an awareness, then we will understand Toyota's conference at a higher level, as well as Toyota's electric blueprint.
The soldiers plotted.
Toyota seems to be laying the groundwork for everything about the industrial chain through enticing plans and visible and tactile concept cars for negotiation weights.
From the perspective of operational logic, Toyota is the right choice, the so-called soldiers and horses have not moved, grain and grass first.
In Toyota's view, electrification is not so important a day earlier and a day later, but no matter which day really comes, it is necessary to ensure profitability, which is the most important.
The opening of the Toyota Drama is not only to show the world its determination to electrify and transform, but also to show its dream to the Japanese new energy supply chain.
——You must follow me closely, only by working together can we have the opportunity to defeat China's new energy automobile industry chain.
brief summary
However, it is really difficult to say whether Toyota's grand growth transformation plan can be completely implemented. After all, Toyota has enjoyed the industrial dividend of too many fuel vehicles for too long.
Remember that Toyota has publicly announced that from 2020 onwards, it will release 10 pure trams to the Chinese market every year, but 2021 is almost over, and Toyota has only two trams on sale.
Planned aborts are the norm in the car circle, and Toyota is not immune. Toyota has been brewing and promoting the electrification transformation and dare not slacken off.
For Toyota, time is the most important, but time is not on Toyota's side.