Toyota said it did not consider a single development of electric vehicles

China Securities Journal reporter Chen Xiaogang

Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda said on the 19th that although emission regulations tend to be tightened and electric vehicles have become the focus of the market, Toyota will continue to provide customers with multiple models and has not considered a single development of electric vehicles.

He said that Toyota will continue to use hybrid technology power systems, including fuel cell vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and pure electric vehicles. "It is up to the customer and the market to ultimately determine which power system will win." Toyoda also admitted that Toyota was "a little late" to intervene in electric vehicles.

Toyota’s new energy vehicle strategy has always centered on hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. From 2012 to 2014, it developed a pure electric SUV in cooperation with Tesla Inc. and sold it in the United States. However, due to battery cost and battery life In short, it is difficult for Toyota to judge the formal popularization of pure electric vehicles. In the "2050 Strategy" released by Toyota, the company stated that it will continue to adhere to the product direction of hybrid and fuel cell routes, while electric vehicles are excluded from the company's strategy.

However, as countries around the world have successively introduced policies to promote the development of electric vehicles, some issues that restrict the development of electric vehicles such as battery performance and charging facilities have also been improved. Analysts believe that Toyota will also follow the trend and upgrade its corporate strategy to include All-round strategy including pure electric vehicles.

In November 2016, Toyota disclosed its specific plans for the production of pure electric vehicles for the first time. It plans to establish a new department responsible for the design and research and development of pure electric vehicles in 2017, and establish and improve the mass production system of pure electric vehicles by 2020, and formally enter the pure electric vehicle Electric vehicle market.