CARS I PEOPLE I SCOOPS I MOTORSPORT I ANALYSIS – THE MONTH ACCORDING TO CAR
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Toyota’s tardiness with EVs has put it on the back foot. The new thinking showcased by the FT-3e promises to change that.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Whatever the reason – bloody-mindedness, sound business sense, perhaps even high-minded morality – Toyota was not budging. For years it resisted the surge towards electric cars. Its goal was providing ‘mobility for all’ and ensuring ‘no one is left behind’. Its multi-path approach to powertrains was aimed at ensuring it had cars that made sense in every global market, not just those in the vanguard of the switch to electric.
Hybrids, long championed in the mass market by Toyota, had lowered its CO2 footprint, allowing diesel Land Cruiser 4x4s and Hilux pickups to remain part of the line-up. Hydrogen was being explored.
But now Toyota is not merely budging from its old position but positively embracing the BEV with the vigour of the late convert. New cars and ambitious new batteries are coming soon.
Toyota is a long way from going all-electric – although premium subbrand Lexus is heading that way sooner – but it’s woken up to the fact that its multi-path approach puts it at a disadvantage in markets such as Europe, where legislation will rule out pure combustion engines and then hybrids. If Toyota doesn’t have a wide range of EVs to offer by 2030, it will lose huge chunks of market share. And the UK’s ZEV mandate insists car makers sell an increasing percentage of zero-emissions cars – starting from 22 per cent in 2024.
‘Europe continues to be the fastest changing region in the world when it comes to ambitious mobility and environmental goals,’ says Matt Harrison, chief operating officer of Toyota Europe. ‘We aren’t complacent; we have our eyes wide open, and we don’t underestimate the significant challenges that lie ahead.’
Toyota’s first proper ground-up EV, the bZ4X, hasn’t turned out to be the silver bullet the brand had hoped for. The electric SUV joined a flooded segment of the market and was markedly average in plenty of ways. But the next battery-electric steps sound much more promising, as Toyota begins to transform the composition of its product line-up with a range of EVs set to launch within a couple of years – likely under the same ‘bZ’ nomenclature.
The likes of the small Urban SUV Concept, conventional bZ SUV Concept and more glamorous Sport Crossover Concept (see the ‘Bloodline’ panel) will transform into production cars, with the first arriving later on in 2024. All will run on an improved version of the bZ4X’s e-TNGA platform.
The overall battery-electric ambition, meanwhile, is embodied
