General Motors recently made a large restructuring that saw it discontinue several models so it could invest more into its electric and autonomous vehicle programs.
This move shows that GM is going all-in on EVs and autonomous cars, cautious not to be outdone by the competition. It’s also a telling when move you consider that GM also already has an electric vehicle in the way of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and until recently, had a mass market plug-in hybrid as well.
Its rivals over at Toyota seem to be taking a more cautious approach, however. The automaker does not have a battery electric vehicle on sale and in a recent interview with AutoGuide, Toyota North America general manager Jack Hollis indicated dealerships hadn’t been asking for one. It could be a long time before a fully electric Toyota comes to market, then, with the automaker instead choosing to offer a range of hybrids and plug-in hybrids for the time being.
“If our dealers, and we just met with our national dealer council two weeks ago, if our dealers felt like there was a significant demand (for EVs) we would have already had fully electric and electric vehicles already on the road today,” Hollis told AutoGuide and other media during an interview at the 2018 LA Auto Show.
With EV profit margins still small and Toyota having quite a bit of success with its hybrid vehicles, it’s easy to see why the automaker is taking a more cautious approach toward BEVs. It does make large investments in electrification tech, though, with Toyota having fuel cell and hybrid vehicles on sale already and EVs in development. This allows it to react to market trends quickly, Hollis said, whether the future of clean energy is EV or hydrogen fuel cell.
As Hollis explained, “if the demand is low,” for EVs, it might not make business sense for it to build them right now. Toyota will make an EV eventually and it has before (the rather slow-selling RAV4 EV) but it seems as though it’s waiting for demand to increase to a certain level, which will probably take two or three years.
GM recently called for a National Electric Vehicle Policy that would encourage automakers to build and sell a number of zero emission vehicles within a certain timeframe, but it seems as if Toyota would rather let the customer decide what to do about the EV situation for now. And if we’ve been hearing correctly, the customer isn’t that interested in EVs just yet – they’re interested in trucks and crossovers.
(source: AutoGuide)
Comments
Meanwhile Mary Barra is bleeding market share as she virtue signals about BEVs and Autonomous vehicles..
Look at Prius sales over the last few months, they are tanking fast. BEV sales via Tesla and GM have taken off. Those interested in electrification are skipping hybrids and going straight to BEV. German firms are all gearing up for BEV wars and those that don’t prepare will be left behind. Gas is cheap now because they know electrification will disrupt their industry so they are selling oil cheap hoping stupid people will keep buying.
Is Toyota being cautious or realistic? I for one believe this “demand” for electrification and autonomy is entirely made up by a very small few. Mary Barra’s “triple zero” nonsense is not mainstream ideology. Her attempt to force the everyday driver into her scheme by removing the vehicle that that driver desires from the equation will ultimately doom GM again. Does it make sense to reinvent the entire market in an attempt to sell vehicles to a target audience that does not even care for driving? The infrastructure required does not exist. The desire does not exist. Big Oil will not go gently into that goodnight. Toyota realizes this it seems by playing it safe. Mercedes seems to be taking a cautious approach as well. The average vehicle consumer will not be weened off gasoline or diesel anytime soon. It is smart to offer EV’s for those who want them but GM is not Tesla and Tesla is not going to appeal to GM’s core audience. And while the proponents of electrification may call others stupid for thinking of anything else, is it not stupid to think that a company should go all in on one line of thinking?
GM has an EV strategy? (said with a little sarcasm)
While GM talks about all its upcoming models, others are actually introducing models at autoshows and being a lot more specific about what’s coming.
Discontinuing the Volt I think was a mistake. Not the car itself — it was a frog — a hatchback that looked like a sedan in a market when sedans are dying — but the power train has significant value, especially to those who might be EV adverse in the short run.
I think a small CUV with two powertrains — an EV and the Volt powertrain — would be highly marketable to both many segments of the market.
Showing off future EV’s at autoshows is little more than a desperation move. Anyone can create a prototype. What matters is what you’re doing behind the scenes and what’s going down the production line.
Sorry. Sleeping in class again. What is a “BEV”?
An acronym someone thought up when they didn’t realize that EV’s, by their very design, come with their own battery and therefore needed an extra letter to denote that fact for some stupid reason.
It’s like saying “This is the Galaxy Note B. The B mean it’s a battery powered smartphone, as opposed to the standard Galaxy Notes that are corded and need to be plugged into a wall outlet.”
Technically there are other types of EV’s. Fuel cell vehicles are also electric vehicles – FCEV. Plug in Hybrid EV’s like the Volt – PHEV and finally Battery EV – BEV.
Beverage Electronic Vehicle
There’s no urgency to creating electric battery powered vehicles because there is no infrastructure in the United States to support a large fleet and with limited public recharging stalls for electric vehicles, the only people who will be buying an electric vehicle are individuals who own their own home with a garage.
that was most people last I checked
That’s a chicken and egg problem. Infrastructure will never be built if there are no vehicles. Also unlike traditional vehicles you charge 90%+ at home. You’re right is best if you have a garage, but that alone is a lot of vehicles sales. More than GM sells worldwide in a decade for just the US alone.
Infrastructure is not required for an Extended Range EV like the Volt.