Toyota has decided to move up a gear in the electrification of its offer. During the presentation of its new strategy, the Japanese manufacturer announced the development of 10 new models without combustion engines by 2026.
On April 1, 2023, Toyota changed its management board. Akio Toyoda, grandson of the brand’s founder, has therefore ceded his place as CEO to Koji Sato. To mark this transition, Toyota’s new thinking heads presented the manufacturer’s strategy.
If Toyota has regularly shown its reluctance towards electric motorization, the manufacturer has finally been overtaken by the reality of the market and new legal provisions. We are obviously talking here about the ban on the sale of new thermal cars from 2035 voted by the European Union.
Toyota wants to launch 10 brand new electric cars
Hiroki Nakajima, the company’s chief technology officer, said in a press conference on April 7, 2023 that Toyota was preparing to launch no less than 10 new electric vehicles by 2026.
Like Volkswagen, the manufacturer also has great ambitions, with annual production set at 1.5 million “watted” models. To fulfill its objectives, the brand intends to create a new unit specializing in electric vehicles. Note that this division will enjoy total autonomy and will be in charge of all aspects of the process, from development to production, including marketing and sales.
Double the autonomy, here is the promise of Toyota
To seduce future consumers, Toyota has made a major promise: double the range of its electric cars. Remember that the only electric model available from the manufacturer, namely the bZ4X SUV, has a range of 450 km in the WLTP cycle.
“This new generation BEV will double the range using much more efficient batteries, while delivering heart-pounding design and driving performance.” assured the new CEO of Toyota.
Also read: Toyota to invest $13.6 billion in electric car batteries
While details about these batteries are still lacking, Toyota says it will achieve these goals by carrying out a complete reorganization of its production chain. Thus, the company aims in particular to reduce the number of processes by half, which will lead to more efficient production lines (robots will be responsible for inspections in particular).
Among the other ideas mentioned, there is also the development of a new platform dedicated to electric cars, which will reduce manufacturing costs by half.
