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Toyota held an electric vehicle strategy conference today, and Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda announced that he would invest $35 billion in electric vehicle research by 2030, and 30 electric vehicles will be launched before that. The Lexus brand will also be fully transformed into an all-electric brand.

According to the plan, Toyota will invest 8 trillion yen ($35 billion) in research and development costs for new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, half of which will be spent on pure electric research. In 2030, Toyota's new energy vehicles will account for 75% of total sales, and strive to sell 3.5 million vehicles a year. In May, the figure was 2 million, and just a few months later, Toyota sharply raised its 30 per cent sales target for new energy vehicles. At the event, Akio Toyoda also showed off more than a dozen new electric models, including a new generation of electric vehicles, including a Lexus, sports car, Yaris and SUV, a product array that covers all Toyota travel areas.

Akio Toyoda also mentioned that Toyota will launch 15 bZ models by 2025, including nine new models. Toyota will have 30 pure electric models by 2030. Among them, the luxury brand Lexus will achieve 100% pure electric car in Europe, North America and China, and this goal will be extended to the whole world by 2035. Ueda, chairman and general manager of Toyota Motor China, said that seven models have been planned for the bZ pure electric exclusive series, five of which will be introduced into the Chinese market in the future. As far as pure electric models are concerned, Toyota and Lexus will have 10 EV models in China by 2025, and Lexus RZ will achieve zero acceleration in 2 seconds and exceed 700km in range.

Toyota's progress in electrification feels slow, which has something to do with Toyota's products and comments on different occasions. Toyota will not launch its first mass-produced new all-electric vehicle, the bZ4X, until next year. Toyota's progress in electric vehicles has lagged behind its counterparts in China and Europe. After all, even Hummer and F150 have launched electric products, and it is an indisputable fact that Toyota and even Japanese brands have begun to become followers.

In the era of fuel cars, Japanese brands, including Toyota, have won market share in the United States, a traditional automobile country, by controlling costs and improving their production mode, and Toyota has become the world's largest car company by market capitalization. In the movie "the sinking of Japan", there is a scene in which a Japanese car company becomes a bargaining chip to save Japanese citizens from sinking. This is a good explanation. In the past years, Toyota has made achievements and earned enough cash, perhaps enjoying the greatest benefits available, and maintaining its leading position in the field of fuel-fueled cars and mixed-car technology is its biggest abacus. This may be the reason why Toyota does not want to change too quickly, but its position is slowly being shaken by imagination, even Rivian, an electric car company that has delivered only 150 cars. Overnight to become the world's third largest car company, the reality is magical, but have to face.

On the other hand, there is another voice in the Japanese auto industry, who believe that the ratio of thermal power generation is more than 75%, even if the increase of pure electric vehicles, it will be difficult to help decarbonization. At the annual meeting of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association in December 2020, Toyota President Akio Toyoda publicly said that pure electric cars were over-hyped and that the Japanese government did not take into account its real carbon dioxide emissions and the impact of power shortages. Electric cars will kill companies, require huge investment and emit more carbon dioxide.

It is precisely because of these two reasons that it has become an obstacle to the progress of Toyota electrification. Whether it is the promotion of emerging capital or the political strategy of overtaking in the corner of the industry, the rapid development of new forces has forced Toyota to re-examine its strategic positioning, or just a few months. before there was any big sign, Toyota suddenly threw out this radical new energy vehicle strategy. And this sudden press conference, no matter the investment plan, the rhythm of the product launch, or the composition of the product line, all exceeded people's imagination of Toyota. Some netizens thought that they had seen a false news. Other netizens commented that "the car designs with these drawings are blind, and another label is a series of independent brands," while some netizens praised that "if you don't have electricity, you will already have it." A blockbuster. "

In the eyes of Chinese netizens, Xu Jiayin of Evergrande may be the last person to launch multiple models at one time, although the precipitation of the two in the automobile industry is very different, but the purpose of its expression is the same-it refers to the throne of new energy vehicles, of course, it is only a matter of time before Toyota realizes this strategic goal.

Earlier this month, Toyota did not comment on the news that Toyota would launch the second model of the bZ series next year with the help of BYD technology, while BYD officials said that the project is still in the confidential stage of research and development, and the details should be subject to the announcements of both parties. On March 25, 2020, BYD and Toyota contributed half of each. BYD Toyota Electric vehicle Technology Co., Ltd. was officially established with a registered capital of 345 million yuan, headquartered in Pingshan District, Shenzhen City. Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said to the cooperation between the two sides that the goal of landing two to three years ahead of schedule could be achieved for Toyota electric vehicles.

In any case, Toyota's move today really gives a blow to its technical route and supporters of the Lexus brand, and maybe sometimes they would rather it was false news, and they had to accept the fact that Toyota had to revolutionize itself.

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