AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/31 Report--

On October 30th, Toyota Motor Group released the global production and sales report in September 2023 and the first half of fiscal year 2023 (April-September 2023). Toyota sold 921300 vehicles globally in September, up 11.60 per cent from a year earlier, and produced 900900 vehicles, up 1.49 per cent from a year earlier, according to the data.

In terms of data, Toyota achieved growth in both sales and production in September. In terms of segmentation, Toyota sold 144200 vehicles in its home market in Japan in September, up 20.53 per cent from a year earlier, while sales in overseas markets were 777100, up 10.08 per cent from a year earlier, including 14 per cent in the US and 18.1 per cent in Europe. This is also the eighth consecutive month of global sales growth for Toyota and six consecutive months of sales growth in overseas markets. However, Toyota's production and sales figures have declined in markets such as Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

In addition, in the production and sales report for the first half of the 2023 fiscal year (April-September 2023), Toyota produced a total of 5.0582 million vehicles worldwide, an increase of 12.87% over the same period last year, which is the first time in four years that Toyota has set an all-time high in the first half of the year. Global cumulative sales reached 5.1724 million vehicles, up 9.07% from the same period last year, also setting a new high in the first half of the year. Among them, the Japanese local market grew extremely fast, rising 33.8% to 790200 vehicles in the first half of fiscal 2023 compared with the same period last year.

Toyota officials said sales and production in the first half of fiscal 2023 exceeded the same period a year earlier due to semiconductor supply problems and some relief by COVID-19.

After entering 2023, Toyota began to accelerate the development of electrification, but its sales in the world's largest new energy vehicle market are not optimistic.

At the recent Tokyo International Auto Show, Toyota's full Fire Power brought a number of new electric concept cars, including the Land Cruiser Se concept car, the first electric car in the Landkuzawa family, the pure electric performance sports car FT-Se and the pure electric cross-border SUV FT-3e. Among them, the Landkuze Se is the first all-electric Land Cool in Toyota's history.

To some extent, a number of pure electric concepts were unveiled at the Tokyo International Auto Show, demonstrating Toyota's determination to transform, but unfortunately, these cars are still in the concept car stage. it will take more time to tell whether the final mass production is on schedule.

As for the unveiling of the concept car, Toyota's current CEO, Henji Sato, said that electric cars are not only environmentally friendly, but also provide driving fun and a variety of experiences. In addition, it says hybrid systems and other technologies, such as hydrogen, will also help Toyota achieve a carbon-neutral future.

Unlike Mr. Sato, who continues to invest more in electric cars, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, a staunch opponent of electrification, remains negative about motorization. Akio Toyoda said: "the recent slowdown in the company's sales proves that he made the right decision to boycott electric cars. People finally realized the failure of this technology and began to look for other ways to achieve carbon neutrality. " In his view, carmakers should continue to invest in hybrids rather than fully invest in electric cars.

In April, Sato unveiled a new electrification strategy. Toyota and Lexus will launch 10 new electric vehicles and a new pure electric platform in the next three years, in order to reach the sales target of 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2026. Data show that pure electric cars accounted for 1.5% of new car sales in Japan in 2022, lagging behind other developed car markets. For comparison, electric cars accounted for more than 20% of new cars sold in China in 2022. Toyota sold less than 65500 electric vehicles worldwide from January to August this year, according to a report from the Japan Times.

In fact, Toyota also wants to build electric cars, but because the electric transformation of Japanese brands is too slow and is in a difficult transition stage, Toyota's performance in tram sales is very mediocre. Take the Chinese market as an example, Toyota has arranged two pure electric models in the Chinese market, namely the bZ4X and the bZ3, but the two models do not have a high sense of presence in the electric vehicle market. GAC retail data show that from January to September 2023, Guangzhou Auto Toyota sold 5595 bZ4X vehicles, FAW Toyota bZ4X sold 6783 vehicles, FAW Toyota bZ3 18674 vehicles, which lagged behind the monthly sales performance of Tesla Model Y and Model 3.

The industry believes that Toyota is unlikely to undergo major reforms in the electric transformation in the future. However, Akio Toyoda said in an interview with the media at the Tokyo International Motor Show: "Japanese cars must win in the face of Chinese cars." What do you win with? I think it's a point of view to win simply in terms of sales, but Japanese manufacturers transport all kinds of things on the road of the world, and cars transport information and happiness as a mobile means. Japanese manufacturers need to develop new strategies to survive. "

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