Toyota's first all-electric vehicle, the bZ4X, is currently underperforming in China and the U.S., so manufacturers are reconsidering the direction of electric vehicles.
According to overseas media reports, Toyota is likely to electrify hot-selling models such as the Highlander, and will also launch models with Lexus standards produced on the same platform.
However, this does not mean that Toyota will be all in electric vehicles, and the report said that Toyota's gasoline SUV model Grand Highlander (Grand Highlander) will continue to be sold to make up for the gap after the Highlander becomes an electric vehicle.
Toyota, the traditional fuel vehicle giant, is the most hesitant to take an attitude towards electrification transformation.
As we all know, Akio Toyoda has been skeptical of electric vehicles before, and has even publicly bombarded electric vehicles many times, and has also received support from many Japanese car companies such as Suzuki, Isuzu, Yamaha, Honda and Mazda.
Unlike Akio Toyoda, Tsuneji Sato, the current CEO and president of Toyota, places more emphasis on multiple product portfolios and balanced development: gasoline, hybrid, pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are developed together, taking a "parallel" route.
Previously, Toyota paid too much attention to hydrogen energy and hybrids, and despised pure electric vehicles, so that the transformation of electrification was slow, and it missed the opportunity to seize the electric vehicle market.
Toyota, which missed out on the first-mover advantage of electric vehicles, has also encountered a lot of resistance in the field of hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which it has high hopes for.
Toyota's reluctance to give up its brilliant achievements in the field of fuel vehicles is also an important reason for its slow transition to electrification. "In the era of electrification and intelligence, it is also a trend for elephants to turn around. ”
In 2023, Toyota's global sales will be 11.23 million units, ranking first in the world for four consecutive years.
In the Chinese market, most of the joint venture brands have been greatly impacted by new energy, and Toyota's cumulative sales have exceeded 1.9 million units, and the performance is still strong.
It sells 60 vehicles a month, and it has been complained about as "industrial waste", which is the achievement of Toyota's model "bZ4X". The reason for such a huge contrast is that the bZ4X's product competitiveness is not enough.
Seriously, in the era of fuel vehicles, Toyota relied on stability to win the world, otherwise there would not be a saying that "one car is passed down to three generations, and the dead car is still there". After switching to a train, everything had to start from scratch.
Toyota's various technologies accumulated in the era of fuel vehicles are basically not used in the era of electric vehicles, and the previous advantages no longer exist, which is not only a challenge for Toyota, but also for other traditional car companies.
A few more words
Not only are trends changing faster than the average person realizes, but even the auto giants are ashamed of themselves. However, there are signs that Toyota's old-fashioned thinking has loosened.
Toyota's hot-selling models include Highlander, RAV4, Corolla, Camry, etc., and it is not ruled out that these models will have pure electric versions in the future.
It has missed the first-mover advantage, and it has only awakened in the past two years, is there still a chance for Toyota to accelerate the reorganization of its electric vehicle strategy?