Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, is expected to scale back its EV production ambitions by a third, with a new plan to roll out 1 million new all-electric units by 2026, as compared to an initial plan to produce 1.5 million units around the same timeframe. Toyota’s revised EV production goals arrive on the tail end of several other strategy shifts announced across the auto industry, including at GM, with lower-than-expected demand for battery electric vehicles prompting automakers to reconsider their EV plans going forward. The only all-electric Toyota models currently on the market are the Toyota bZ4X crossover, which rivals the Chevy Equinox EV, and the Lexus RZ, which rivals the Cadillac Optiq.
According to a report from Automotive News, Toyota’s revised EV plans were initially reported by the Nikkei business daily. In a statement, Toyota said that it still plans to produce 1.5 million EVs annually by 2026, and 3.5 million units by 2030, but added that the figures were benchmarks for shareholders, and not targets.
Toyota sold roughly 104,000 EVs in 2023, making up less than one percent of the 11.2 million units the automaker sold over the course of the year. Toyota’s total sales increased by 7.2 percent year-over-year in 2023. EVs make up just 1 percent of total global sales across the auto industry.
As for GM, The General’s current EV sales and production forecast has been slashed from an initial target announced in 2021, at which time The General forecast that EV production would hit 400,000 units annually by the end of 2023. The timeline for the goal of 400,000 units annually was later pushed back to early 2024. In January of 2024, GM revised its plans again to between 200,000 and 300,000 during the 2024 calendar year. Finally, in June, GM revised its targets yet again, with GM CFO Paul Jacobson stating that the automaker now expects to produce between 200,000 and 250,000 new EV units by the end of the year as the result of lower-than-expected demand.
GM’s strategy shift also includes the reintroduction of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to the North American market. Originally, GM planned to leapfrog hybrids entirely in a bid to transition from ICE-powered vehicles directly into BEVs.
Comments
I’d be ok if Toymotor scaled all of their cars back 100%!
It is truly unfortunate that an American company can’t claim this, but Toyota overall has the highest quality and resale value in the world.
This is objective data that argues and insults the ethos of too many blind fanboys. It will not be tolerated here.
Toyota was derided by many in the media and here for slow walking their EV plans while American and European manufacturers were sprinting to a no-ICE lineup.
Is that you Paul Jacobson?
EV sales must be doing so great that Toyota needs to scale back EV production by a third. It can’t be because EV sales are slowing down. No no. We are instantly wrong in assuming this folks. Even though the numbers prove it EVs are still magically soaring in sales like magical flying unicorns and fairies soar. Toyota is just looking to be efficient in the face of so much EV demand so they decided to cut back production the cars can self-replicate and meet the soaring through the roof on fire demand for electric cars. /s
I’ve said previously that manufacturers were rushing too soon to get into the EV market and that the best time to jump in is later. Now is the time for companies to lay the groundwork in R&D. The next gen EVs will have far greater success and competition will tighten.
Automakers are probably waiting on the election results in November. If Team Mandate wins, then we all have to do time in EV or pay the heavy penalty fees. If Team Freedom wins, then we have our Freedom of choice to buy what we want. Do you want to be told what to do (Team Mandate) or have Freedom that this country stands for (Team Freedom)?
Liberals better get buying these EVs their leaders want or we are all going to die from climate change 😄
More idiotic deletion of perfectly fine comments from me.
The average person drives less than 40-50 miles a day. A plug-in Hybrid has about that much range. If you go beyond that, the ICE, which runs at a constant speed and only operates as a generator for the electric motors, kicks in and you can drive across country if needed. We would have had probably an 80-90% reduction in the use of gasoline, fought climate change, and have less resistance to EV’s with Hybrids instead of all electric. we could have also conserved the limited Lithium supply. It would have given the industry and the country time to build the infrastructure, and perfect the EV’s. We have our third Chevy Volt, and we love it. We buy a few gallons of gas to fill its small tank every 3 months approximately. But GM and some of the other companies were way too smart to have done that, and now it has bit them in the ass.
Ted, 100% right on the spot. GM should have gone to maybe 50% of their vehicles to be Volt-ed. ICE as an on board generator and moving it with an electric auto transmission.
No worries for them. They have a very well developed and executed hybrid strategy to fall back on since they wisely recognized the transition to EV’s would take a lot longer than all the EV hype suggested.
Better management equals better results.