Recently Toyota Motor Corporation’s Global President Akio Toyoda held a press conference discussing Toyota’s plan and how Toyota is going to aggressively pursue the launch and developments of zero-emission vehicles of the future. Toyota has set itself a goal of making a carbon-neutral society with its mobility solutions worldwide. For this Toyota has planned to start investing heavily in the expansion of its BEVs (battery electric vehicles) lineup and at the same time continue developing FCEVs (fuel-cell electric vehicles), HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles), and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles).
In Akio Toyoda’s words, “We are living in a diversified world and in an era in which it is hard to predict the future. Therefore, it is difficult to make everyone happy with a one-size-fits-all option. That is why Toyota wants to prepare as many options as possible for our customers around the world.” “Our goal is not only to reduce CO2 emissions and other negative impacts to zero. Our goal goes beyond those. For the bZ series, we developed a dedicated platform for battery EVs to meet the diverse needs of the global market. The first model in the lineup is the bZ4X.”
Toyota under its ambitious goal of coming up with 30 BEV models, that will be shared jointly under the Toyota and Lexus brand, has set aside $70 billion in investments. Of the total chunk of investment, the half amount will be dedicated solely to BEVs starting from 2022 till 2030 while the other half will be dedicated to the development of HEVs, FCEVs, and PHEVs. Under the BEV banner, Toyota and Lexus will jointly offer vehicles across the segment that includes the likes of SUVs, K-Cars, sedans, commercial vehicles, and other vehicles.
As of this writing, Toyota has recently come up with its first all-electric SUV the bZ4X. The Toyota bZ4X is based on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform and has been jointly developed with Subaru. Out of this joint venture, Subaru has already launched the 2023 Subaru Solterra its all-electric SUV. While following the footsteps of its parent company recently Lexus has also teased its Lexus RZ 450e, the luxury carmakers first fully-electric vehicle for the American market.
Other electric vehicles showcased at the press conference include an all-new FJ Cruiser based electric SUV, an all-electric Tacoma-based pickup, a couple of compact all-electric SUVs, and one each mid-size and full-size SUV. While rest of the lineup included Lexus branded vehicles which included the above RZ 450e, a full-size SUV, a two-door coupe, a recreational off-road vehicle by the name ROV, etc.
With this, Toyota is at the moment not divulging any major details on what to expect next after the bZ4X. Although seeing the lineup at the press conference does make it clear that Toyota is eyeing the major pie of the electric vehicle segment. The BEV segment is at the moment being dominated by a handful of new automakers like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. While the imminent threat from the established marque like Volkswagen is also looming large. That said, both the carmakers are the longest rival for the highest-selling ICE-powered vehicle brand.
