Toyota Motor Corp chairman Akio Toyoda believes the market share of battery electric vehicles will reach 30% at most, with the rest taken up by hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell and fuel-burning cars.
With a billion people in the world living without electricity, limiting their choices and ability to travel by making expensive cars isn’t the answer, the grandson of the company’s founder said during a recent business event this month, according to remarks published on a company media platform on Tuesday.
“Customers — not regulations or politics — should make that decision,” he said.
The world’s top-selling carmaker has pushed back against criticism that it has fallen behind in the transition to electrified vehicles, saying that its pioneering hybrid drivetrains, hydrogen technology and holistic approach will ultimately prove to be the right approach for the business, customers and the environment.
In fact, earlier this month, Toyoda announced an initiative to develop new combustion engines.
“Engines will surely remain,” Toyoda was quoted as saying in the company publication. It wasn’t clear whether his remarks referred to new car sales or those already on the road.
A recent forecast by BloombergNEF, a new-energy research group, says EVs will account for 75% of all new-car sales and 44% of passenger vehicles on the road by 2040.
Toyoda for many years has touted a “multipathway approach”, arguing that customers should be able to choose whatever powertrain fits their needs. The EV shift, he has argued, will not happen as quickly as many think.
Last year, Toyota chief executive officer Koji Sato pledged that the company would sell 1.5 million battery EVs a year by 2026, and 3.5 million by 2030.
Toyota recently notified its suppliers that it plans to produce a record 10.3 million vehicles globally this year, an all-time high supported by an easing chip shortage and robust demand for its hybrid cars.
A recent slowdown in the growth rate of electric-car sales has led GM, Ford and Volkswagen, among others, to walk back ambitious targets for those vehicles.
Sales of hybrids are robust, underscoring the fact that while many American drivers are receptive to electrification, they are not ready for a fully electric car.
“Consumers want the same experience they’ve had” with a combustion engine car, Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights for Cox Automotive, told the New York Times recently. “And we are not there yet. Price is still the top barrier for most consumers.”