AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/12 Report--

Akio Toyoda once again launched a verbal attack on electric cars. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said on October 10th that the full transition to pure electric vehicles would lead to the unemployment of a large number of technicians engaged in traditional engine-related jobs, including many suppliers in the automotive industry. there are 5.5 million people in the automobile industry in Japan, some of whom have been engaged in engine-related jobs for a long time.

In fact, it is expected that Akio Toyoda will make such remarks. As we all know, Akio Toyoda has been very conservative about the "electrified transformation", and his disregard for the development of electric cars is nothing new. In the past, every once in a while, Akio Toyoda would make public remarks against the transformation of electrification.

As early as 2020, Akio Toyoda publicly criticized the over-hype of pure electric cars and claimed that electric cars would stifle companies. In his view, "pure electric is not the only way out for the automobile industry." Last year, Akio Toyoda also said bluntly that electric cars were "low-grade products", not new energy, and wanted to boycott them to the end, pointing out that Toyota's slowing sales proved that his boycott of electric cars was right. In early January this year, Akio Toyoda even said: "No matter how much progress electric vehicles have made, hybrid vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel vehicles will still account for 70% of the market sales." And stressed: "the engine will stay." In other words, Akio Toyoda believes that pure electric cars have only a 30% market share.

Although Akio Toyoda has repeatedly spoken down about electric cars, Toyota is not without action in the field of pure electric vehicles. In December 2021, Toyota launched 15 electric vehicles in one breath, a move that shocked the auto industry. However, Toyota has no advantage in the pure electric market, and its pure electric vehicle product is more like a product that is unwilling to be made under the duress of the times. Take the Chinese market as an example, so far, Toyota has deployed two models, the bZ4X and the bZ3, in the Chinese market, but the performance of the two markets is depressed. Retail data show that FAW-Toyota sold 25900 bZ3 vehicles in 2023, while FAW-Toyota bZ4X sold 7167 vehicles. From January to August this year, FAW Toyota sold 38200 bZ3 vehicles, while FAW Toyota bZ4X sold only 13 vehicles. Whether it is the bZ4X or bZ3, the market performance of both cars is a far cry from the mainstream market. Maybe Toyota also wants to build electric cars, but it doesn't work out in reality.

In the past, Toyota relied on the mature technology of fuel vehicles to become a giant in the global automotive industry, ranking first in global sales for five consecutive years. However, the development of the automotive industry is changing with each passing day, especially in the general trend of energy transformation, in this context, Toyota sales also began to decline.

According to the data, Toyota still ranked first in the world with sales of 6.976 million vehicles in the first eight months of this year, but the performance of all major market segments was not satisfactory, including a 25.3% decline in the Japanese local market compared with the same period last year, while the Chinese market also experienced a year-on-year decline for seven consecutive months, becoming one of Toyota's worst performing regional markets. The industry believes that Toyota's decline in sales in China has a lot to do with its slow and cautious decision on electrified transformation.

At present, Toyota is still more convinced that there will be more market for hybrid and internal combustion engines in the future, and the product lines of new energy vehicles are mostly mixed models, and there are not many pure electric vehicles. But even if Akio Toyoda is sceptical about electric cars, the rise of new energy vehicles has become an indisputable fact. With the rapid expansion of electric vehicles around the world, new energy vehicles are gradually replacing traditional fuel vehicles, and Toyota also seems to be somewhat inadequate.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat