Text | Joey
In the end, how to summarize toyota in 2021, I have been thinking about it for a long time.
As one of the world's top automotive groups, Toyota will always be a metaphysical presence.
It is one of the most reliable car brands in the world, so the leather-to-durable Toyota is its most widely known footnote. Toyota is also one of the world's most enthusiastic brands in technology research and development, and the TNGA architecture not only brings efficient production of assembly lines, but also brings a significant improvement in engine thermal efficiency.
As we all know, Toyota's fame is not only stable quality, but also hybrid technology. However, under the wave of electrification, Toyota has skipped the pure electricity stage to directly develop hydrogen fuel cells. After Akio Toyoda's clear opposition to pure electric technology, the situation took a 180° sharp turn, directly turned back to the research and development of pure electric product lines, and quickly launched a roadmap.
Toyota is a brand with persistence. It has always insisted on a more stable quality, so that the user's Toyota car can last longer, thus obtaining the nickname of "Toyota that can't be broken"; at the same time, it also insists that its technology can always lead a lot, although it may not be mass-produced for consumers at the first time; in addition, it also insists that as long as it is needed by the market, even if it violates its own insistence, it must insist on satisfying and pandering.
Because of these insistences, Toyota is always in a leading position in the competition for the world's strongest car group. More importantly, these insistences that scratch the itch of users have indeed ushered in a very good market return. Just this past 2021, Toyota ushered in a big victory in the North American market, surpassing GM with 2.33 million vehicles and standing in the first place.
In the Chinese market, Toyota's sales growth trend is also very stable and durable. In 2021, Toyota sold a total of 1.944 million vehicles in China, setting a new high for nine consecutive years.
Sales have grown steadily
China is gradually becoming one of Toyota's most important markets
Climbing to the top spot in the North American market is a milestone achievement in the history of the Toyota brand. After all, for Toyota, to a large extent, its most important market is the North American market in addition to Japan. But now, with the steady growth of Toyota's product sales, the Chinese market has gradually become Toyota's profit cow and wealth code.
Although Toyota's sales are still not outstanding compared with volkswagens in the Chinese market, which are "calling the wind and rain", they are growing steadily at a rate of 8% every year, which shows its strength. In 2017, for example, Toyota sold a total of 1.29 million vehicles in the Chinese market that year. Today, that number has improved dramatically.
In 2021, GAC Toyota sold more than 840,000 vehicles at its terminals in the Chinese market, while FAW Toyota sold more than 860,000 new vehicles; at the same time, Lexus also sold 219,000 units in the Chinese market in 2021.
Although compared with North and South Volkswagen, Sales of North and South Toyota are currently only about the same as FAW-Volkswagen (FAW-Volkswagen's overall sales in 2021 are 1.85 million units). However, in seven years, Toyota has doubled its sales in the Chinese market, which is indeed a very big step forward.
More important than the steady growth of sales is the balance and stability of Toyota's product layout in the market. In 2021, GAC Toyota and FAW Toyota each sold more than 200,000 models. They are GAC Toyota's Leiling and Camry, and FAW Toyota's Rongfang family and Corolla family.
Among them, corolla, which has sold 50 million units worldwide, sold more than 330,000 products last year. Although Corolla's overall sales have also declined compared to the past (Corolla sold a total of 357,000 units in 2020). However, it is very difficult to maintain such sales in 2021, when the overall environment is more complicated.
On December 24, 2021, FAW Toyota officially unveiled the "god car" Corolla's SUV model, Ruifang, at the ice and snow test drive held by the brand, and it was officially launched today. The launch of the SUV model priced in the range of 129,800-169,800 yuan clearly carries the good wishes of FAW Toyota to combine the essence of Corolla's "fuel-saving, easy to drive, and durable" with the characteristics of the SUV's "multi-functional, large space, and high passability" to add a growth point in the entry-level family car and SUV segment in 2022.
The continuous refresh of these sales data also means that the Chinese market is now becoming the other most important regional market for the Toyota brand to compete with the North American market in the world through the continuous improvement of sales.
Of course, although sales continue to grow steadily, it does not mean that Toyota is completely unchallenged in 2022.
Challenges remain
Toyota's 2022 still needs to be watched
If you ask which car is most expected by Toyota in 2021? Apparently, GAC Toyota's launch in the final months of 2021 is not to be tolerated. The MPV boom that may be driven by the opening of the two- or even three-child policy is an important reason for its widespread attention; at the same time, the popularity in the North American market has also made more people look to Xena for the family to buy a car.
As a family god car that was widely anticipated in the parallel import market in the past, GAC Toyota basically followed its product positioning in the US market after the introduction of the Sai Na model, so that the products remained basically consistent with the US market. Whether it's a 192-horsepower 2.5-liter engine, a fully hybrid energy solution, or a flexible 7-seater space, it's enough to meet the expectations of Chinese consumers when traveling with a large number of people.
Of course, the current sales volume of Xena has not fully matched the previous expectations. Last December, GAC Toyota announced a wholesale volume of 2,791 Xena. Obviously, a large part of the reason is limited by the production and dealer level markup policy. So, in 2022, how to ramp up production and get people to get Xena at a more acceptable price will obviously largely determine how it performs in this year.
In the case of FAW Toyota, an important move is to hang the crown logo on the land amplifier that is benchmarked with GAC Toyota Highlander. Compared to Highlander's overall sales of more than 100,000 units in 2021, the land-based products that just went public in August 2021 sold more than 25,000 units in the four months of its launch. Considering its positioning in the high-end product line, this achievement is still acceptable.
After all, only from the perspective of material materials, the interior of the crown lufang adopts a large number of soft and high-grade wood grain materials, and the instrument panel introduces the sewing process; at the same time, the large number of applications of TNGA polymer vibration damping materials, efficient sound insulation glass, and anti-sound vibration isolation materials have also greatly improved the NVH performance of the lufang.
However, Lufang is only part of FAW Toyota's pace of achieving high-end with the crown brand. It is reported that Will Law, which represents high-end commerce, will also adopt the logo of the crown. In the future, FAW Toyota will also have a variety of product layouts, with prices covering the range of 300,000-900,000 to achieve the entire layout of the Toyota brand, covering almost all price ranges of mainstream sales in the market.
Of course, the goal of high-end and the real realization of high-end, in fact, there is still a process of being recognized by the market and accepted by consumers.
In 2022, whether it is GAC Toyota, which needs to further understand the preferences and consumption habits of Chinese consumers, or FAW Toyota, which is waiting for the market to verify whether the high-end brand can pass, it needs to be observed.
Research and development of hydrogen energy
It is not a complete disregard for market changes
Also at the end of 2021, Toyota began to make efforts in the field of pure electric power again. Toyota said it expects to introduce BEV models by 2030 and plans to sell 3.5 million units worldwide. At the same time, the Lexus brand will achieve a comprehensive lineup of BEV versions for all its models in the same year, and achieve 100% BEV model sales in China, North America and Europe. By 2035, 100% of BEV models will be sold worldwide.
I believe that everyone will think of Akio Toyoda's attitude towards pure electric vehicles at this time. In fact, Toyota has thought of everything to avoid cutting into the track of pure electric vehicle competition. Their strategy is also very obvious, that is, to use their technical advantages in the field of hybrid vehicles, as far as possible to survive the rapid development of pure electric vehicles, to develop hydrogen energy vehicles to complete this transition, and finally in the pure electric vehicles encounter bottlenecks, in the form of mature all-new energy to achieve overtaking.
Toyota's enthusiasm for hydrogen fuel cell products is evident, with the release of its first production car, the Mirai, as early as the end of 2014 (based on this, I have every reason to believe that the development cycle of this car is obviously earlier). In 2020, a replacement of the Mirai model has also been introduced and launched in North America.
Compared with pure electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel models are first of all a truly clean renewable energy, so equipped with it, first of all, it solves the secondary pollution caused by the post-treatment and recycling of batteries of pure electric vehicles. At the same time, this powertrain has 182 horsepower at the beginning, and the peak torque has reached 300N·m, and the power parameters are even better than the traditional 2.5L self-priming engine.
In addition, the new Mirai can achieve a range of 850km when filled with hydrogen fuel, which has a more obvious mileage advantage than traditional internal combustion engine energy vehicles and most of today's pure trams. Although it seems that in the domestic pure electric vehicle, there are already products that can approach or even reach 1000km endurance. But what about charging time? The advantage of the energy efficiency of hydrogen energy vehicles is unsurpassed by pure electric vehicles at least at the current stage (and may not work in the future).
In a sense, at least for now, I haven't found any shortcomings. If you have to count one, the popularity of hydrogen refueling stations and the convenience of hydrogen energy transportation are now far more than an order of magnitude behind the laying of charging stations. But these do not seem to be the most core elements of the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
The logic of this strategy is very smooth, after all, from Theoda Akio's view of electric vehicles, this trend is most likely only a gust of wind, because the shortcomings of pure electric vehicles are obvious. Nowadays, all the technological breakthroughs and innovations made by car companies in the field of pure electric vehicles are all aimed at solving the problem of battery life, safety, and even the problem of charging infrastructure laying.
To solve these problems, it must be like Moore's Law, which is prevalent in the field of electronics and electrical appliances. The later the period, the more pronounced the marginal effect becomes. The research and development costs required by car companies are constantly increasing, but the results obtained are bound to decrease. For Toyota, instead of pressing all the treasures into one competitive field, it is actually a more efficient and cost-effective way to find another way.
After all, in the words of Akio Toyoda: "We live in a diverse world, an era without standard answers, so it is difficult to make everyone happy with a single choice." ”
Environmental protection is all-round
Intelligence is also more detached
In December last year, Toyota Iron Works, a subsidiary of Toyota, began developing new technologies for plant fibers. They will extract "cellulose nanofibers (CNFs)" from the stems of sugarcane close relatives to replace the glass fibers incorporated in automotive resin products. Toyota Iron Works plans to commercialize it in 2024.
It is foreseeable that the environmental friendliness of automotive interior materials will likely be raised to another level with the mass production of this product, and this is not the first time that Toyota has carried out similar new technology research and development.
More than a decade ago, Toyota adopted a brand new material called Ingeo (courtesy of NatureWorks) on top of its third-generation Prius models. Derived from plants, the material uses 65% less fossil fuel and 90% less CO2 emissions than petroleum-based nylon resins used in traditional floor mats.
At the same time, the environmental protection technology adopted on the third-generation Prius does not stop at Ingeo. Solar ventilation systems and environmentally friendly plant-based foam seat cushions can be regarded as a new exploration under the technical conditions at that time. Such explorations persisted for many years thereafter.
For example, at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show, Toyota Boshoku brought interior parts made of plant fibers such as kenaf. At the same time, through the technology of integrated molding, the fixation is realized, the connection is reduced, and the formaldehyde pollution problem that may be caused by the use of glue is reduced.
Toyota Boshoku's technological exploration of environmentally friendly materials does not stop at providing Toyota products for use. More forward-looking products such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW will also use their technology. For example, BMW's i8 and i3 seats in the field of new energy vehicles use technology provided by Toyota Boshoku from the skeleton to the material.
Similarly, the panels and leather of the interior of Mercedes-Benz CLS are also made of all-natural materials provided by Toyota Boshoku in order to achieve lightweight and improve environmental protection.
For Toyota, environmental protection is not only reflected in the energy form of the car, but also in all the small details on the car. More importantly, environmental protection is not all toyota's development into the future, intelligent technology is.
In 2017, Toyota began planning to invest $100 million in artificial intelligence and robotics research and development (in fact, Japanese car companies already have such a tradition, such as Honda's ASIMO). Such research and development will bear fruit in 2020.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Toyota released seven robot devices at one time to help the Olympic Games (showcasing the strength of science and technology), covering assistant robots, mascot robots, communication robots, and miniature self-driving cars. And this year, Toyota launched a new generation of home nanny robots that can perform 85% of complex human-level tasks.
I don't want to leave the automotive industry and talk to you about what Toyota can achieve in the field of robotics. In fact, the research and development of these technologies will eventually be expected to feed back into the car. After all, in the era of smart cars, cars are already a huge travel robot.
In 2019, Toyota unveiled a single-player concept car called the i-unit. This concept product, which looks like a single-person space capsule and weighs only 180 kilograms, is made of degradable, recyclable materials.
Also in 2019, Toyota released a concept car called the LQ. In this car, it is equipped with a SAE L4 driver assistance system and an in-vehicle artificial intelligence assistant "Yui" developed by Toyota. At the same time, Yui can continuously learn from the communication and interaction process with the driver and passenger, and customize it personally according to the needs of users.
At last year's Shanghai Auto Show, Toyota Boshoku brought a smart cockpit called MOOX. Inheriting the self-driving OS "Autoware", LiDAR (automatic driving sensor), camera and other maaS mobility services, this self-driving vehicle can integrate flexible usage scenarios such as sightseeing, business, games, and dinners, and can also be personalized to make travel truly smarter. It seems that this may be an important direction for Toyota to believe that the intelligent travel of cars in the future.
Compared with the competition in the form of energy, whether it is a new environmental protection technology with more scientific and technological content or a more forward-looking artificial intelligence technology, it is the most important direction for the future development of automobiles. Of course, hydrogen fuel cell technology is also a very important development path option.
When these technologies are all fully mature and can be integrated in a single vehicle, it is the opportunity for Toyota's new technology to truly mature. But apparently, the time has not come. And at a time when technological development still needs valuable time, the market still can't give up.
Yes, for Toyota, paying everything that may meet the preferences and needs of users is the core reason why the company has been able to stand firm no matter how many storms it has experienced in history.
There is no doubt that Toyota still hopes to stabilize the steady growth in sales, and at the same time, Toyota has adjusted its planned production capacity for this fiscal year to maintain it at 9 million units (Toyota will sell a total of 9.52 million products worldwide in 2020), which shows that Toyota has also consciously lowered its sales expectations.
For more ordinary people, leather is durable and full of technology, dare to insist but quickly take the initiative to cater, is the most core reason to choose Toyota.