[Motch6]

Toyota is reportedly rethinking its EV strategy and has even halted some EV projects, according to reports from Reuters.

Exclusive: Toyota scrambles for EV reboot with eye on Tesla

Toyota is considering a reboot of its electric-car strategy to better compete in a booming market it has been slow to enter, and has halted some work on existing EV projects, four people with knowledge of the still-developing plans said.

www.reuters.com

Quote: But sales of EVs are growing faster. Automakers globally now forecast plans for EVs to represent more than half of total vehicle production by 2030, part of a wave of industry-wide investment that now totals $1.2 trillion.

Bwhahaha!... wait, what? But didn't Mr. VP in the USA say there wasn't any interest in EV's just a month or two ago! ha hahhah. Oye! this makes me laugh but at the same time I knew this guy and other Toyota Top brass were full of it, or were really just denying what they new to be true because it has gone against what they WANTED to believe. duh!

 

[FelineFreddie]

Lots of companies get caught up in “internal think” and ignore the signs being transmitted by the market.

Classic case… Sears, the undisputed King of mail order in its day, didn’t see the value of on-line Internet shopping, and ignored Amazon. In fact, Walmart was a bit late to that game, too, but finally wised up.

Its odd how so many can often ignore reality, simply because it doesn’t agree with their views and desires,

 

[Motch6]

Lots of companies get caught up in “internal think” and ignore the signs being transmitted by the market.

Classic case… Sears, the undisputed King of mail order in its day, didn’t see the value of on-line Internet shopping, and ignored Amazon. In fact, Walmart was a bit late to that game, too, but finally wised up.

Its odd how so many can often ignore reality, simply because it doesn’t agree with their views and desires,

Very good point... I noticed this as well with both of those companies...

One thing i noticed on another market Wells Fargo was the king of ONLINE banking many years ago, lots of banks and even larger ones like Chase and Bank of America were behind for many years and in fact are still behind in many ways. In fact i work with each of those banks in some capacity or another and you'd think Bank of America's online banking would be so easy to use and very fancy and simple... BUT NO! I can still get around Wells Fargo a lot easier and its easier on the EYES! Ha ha! anyway, I digress

 

[rfrancis073]

This, along with loss of tax credits, is giving me major 2nd guessing if I even want it at this point. I read from Motch that a dealer returned a car to port to be repaired. Makes me think port cars will be fixed in pretty short order.

 

[Motch6]

This, along with loss of tax credits, is giving me major 2nd guessing if I even want it at this point. I read from Motch that a dealer returned a car to port to be repaired. Makes me think port cars will be fixed in pretty short order.

I had a similar thought.... Oh great, what are they going to change and make better? grrr. I do know Toyota has been working on Solid State batteries for sevearl years now, and was surprised they didn't throw that in the bZ4X! Must not be ready for their liking yet, but Solid State will be a huge game changer....

I guess at this point, i'll be happy with what they give me and as long as they stand behind it for many years, then hopefully that will be good enough for me.

 

[qs933]

I still think the Toyota execs have a valid point that gets lost in the "Toyota is anti-EV" rhetoric and lazy reporting. EVs are absolutely growing at a pace faster than other vehicles. But look at the price of a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y and compare that to a Camry or a RAV4. A Camry starts at $26k. A Model 3 starts at $47k.

To get to a point where 50% of the Camry and RAV4 buyers are buying an EV, the price of EVs have to come down significantly. That means the cost to manufacture an EV needs to drop. It could be from cheaper batteries or more efficient production or government subsidies (buyer or seller-side) or all of the above. If this doesn't happen in the near-term, then Toyota's approach of building a range of vehicles incorporating varying forms of electrification makes sense and the position of all manufacturers being EV-or-nothing is unrealistic.

The takeaway from the article seems to be a recognition by Toyota that Tesla is moving faster at gaining efficiencies -- and lowering production costs -- than Toyota anticipated. The e-TNGA platform apparently was designed with the focus of being feasible to be built in a mixed powertrain environment, not for maximum production efficiencies if a factory was all-EV. If Tesla can pull off manufacturing a profitable and desirable $30k EV in volume -- that would be a game-changer.

But even Tesla is challenged, as we've seen with the price increases attributed to rising costs. Worse, instead of raising prices further (and further crimping demand), they are removing features, such as the ultrasonic sensors saying they aren't needed anymore (but simultaneously making previously standard functionality now a "coming soon" promise).