Akio Toyoda has "fired" at electric cars again.
Recently, Akio Toyoda once again made a surprising statement in an interview, angrily denouncing electric vehicles as "low-level products", which are not new energy and must be resisted to the end.
Why did Akio Toyoda say that?
Akio Toyoda believes that electric vehicles are a technology that has existed for a long time, and Toyota launched electric vehicles in the 90s of the last century.
Since electricity is still fossil energy in many countries, if fuel vehicles are replaced with electric vehicles, it will bring more pressure to the power grid and cause more carbon emissions, and the production process of electric vehicles will consume a lot of energy and resources, from lithium mining to waste battery disposal, which may cause environmental damage.
Finally, Akio Toyoda also pointed out that the reason why electric vehicle sales can grow is because of policy support, such as China, the United States and Europe have special support policies for electric vehicles.
Although Akio Toyoda's bombardment of electric vehicles is sharp, it is not surprising that he has repeatedly spoken out against electric vehicles.
It's just that although the words are very hard, the actions seem to be a little insincere, and today's Toyota is accelerating towards the era of electrified vehicles.
But one step at a time, one step at a time, Toyota's road to electrification transformation, can it still be achieved?
Akio Toyoda's attitude towards electric cars is a bit like the common "old stubbornness" in life:
Accept incompetence in the treatment of new things such as the Internet and smartphones, and see that they are left behind by the trend of the new era, so they have to vent their dissatisfaction loudly.
As early as 2020, Akio Toyoda publicly criticized the excessive hype of electric vehicles, which will stifle Japanese companies, and will require huge investments and more carbon dioxide emissions.
Akio Toyoda issued a warning:
"If we end gasoline vehicles early, the current business model will collapse. ”
In 2021, at the regular meeting of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Akio Toyoda, in order to strengthen his momentum, also called a few helpers to issue a warning to Japan with Honda, Yamaha, Isuzu and other corporate executives:
The impracticality of achieving carbon neutrality through the promotion of pure electric vehicles would be devastating to the Japanese economy.
Two years later, Akio Toyoda still did not let go of his "obsession", and at the G7 summit held in April this year, he led Japanese brands such as Suzuki, Isuzu, Yamaha, Honda and Mazda to once again publicly boycott the electrification of automobiles.
Although electric vehicles have been booming in recent years, especially in the Chinese market, the penetration rate has repeatedly reached new highsAkio Toyoda remains a firm believer in the right thing to do with electric vehicles, saying in an interview in October that the slowdown in electric vehicle sales proves his view right and that people are finally seeing the "reality" of the technology.
However, what is the real "reality"?
Electrified vehicles are gradually becoming the mainstream of future automobile development, and the three major automobile markets in China, the United States and Europe are actively carrying out the layout of electrified vehicles, and Japanese car companies are almost out of touch with the world.
At the beginning, in the face of the gradually changing Chinese auto market, Suzuki Shu, the founder of Suzuki Motors of Japan, said bluntly:
"I'd rather die than bow to the Chinese market and change our strategy for the sake of Chinese consumers. ”
But as we all know, Suzuki withdrew from the Chinese market in a slippery manner, and didn't even make a splash.
However, compared with Suzuki, Toyota has played a little "clever": although the chairman has fired guns everywhere and resisted the electrification of automobiles, it has not delayed Toyota at all to realize that it is lost and will make every effort to transform towards electrified vehicles.
On the lips, he scolded electric cars very harshly, but behind the scenes, in fact, Toyota is also secretly poking and poking towards electric vehicles.
This is reflected in the patents of new energy vehicles:
As of September 2022, Toyota, which keeps saying that electric vehicles are "low-level products", has applied for the most new energy vehicle patents, as many as 3,332, far more than Hyundai Motor, which ranks second, by more than 1,000.
Especially in April this year, after Akio Toyoda abdicated and was replaced by Tsuneji Sato, Toyota increased its investment in the field of pure electric vehicles.
Unlike the chairman's resistance to electric vehicles, Tsuneji Sato is honest in words and deeds, clearly expressing the importance of electrification transformation.
In May this year, Tsuneji Sato announced that Toyota Motor will invest 5 trillion yen in the field of pure electric vehicles by 2030, and will also establish a dedicated organization for pure electric vehicles, the BEV Factory.
According to Toyota's plan, by 2026, Toyota is expected to put into 10 pure electric vehicles, with annual sales reaching 50,000 units.
However, there is always a certain gap between the ideal and the reality, and Toyota is currently more than one position behind in the electric vehicle market.
According to the data of the passenger association, in the first 11 months of this year, Toyota's two new energy vehicles, bZ4X and bZ3, had cumulative sales of 7,156 and 24,390 respectively, which together were not as good as the monthly sales of some popular models.
Many people may not understand how Toyota, as a century-old car company, could stall in the era of electrified vehicles.
But this incident is really reasonable, unexpected, and not so unusual.
When Apple sprung up, didn't Nokia realize that the world had changed dramatically and the building would collapse?
must have realized that in order to recover the decline, Nokia has also saved itself several times, but the huge size that it once relied on has become an obstacle to the transformation to a new era.
The same is true for the transformation of electric vehicles, Toyota, as the world's largest traditional car company in terms of sales, will inevitably encounter problems in the face of new energy such as electric vehiclesWhat should I do if there is a conflict with the traditional business?
We can imagine if Akio Toyoda found out that there must be a place for electric vehicles in the future car market, and Toyota must transform to electrification, and there will be action soon, what will be the result?
A large number of parts manufacturers and Toyota executives who are counting on fuel vehicles to eat will immediately change from the help of development to resistance, this one says that electric vehicles have poor battery life, and that says that electric vehicles have no technology, anyway, in the final analysis, it is "the law of the ancestors is immutable".
We can also find out from Toyota's strategic swing over the yearsFor the new energy transition, even within Toyota, there is no clear and unified voice.
From this point of view, Akio Toyoda abdicated and Tsuneji Sato took over as CEO, and this may be the reason
The transition to electrification has become inevitable, and Toyota urgently needs to make drastic changes, and it is difficult for a "conservative" like Akio Toyoda to complete such a difficult task, and Tsuneji Sato, who is actively promoting electrification, is the best candidate to succeed him.
Write at the end:
At this year's Tokyo Motor Show, a large number of Toyota's electric models were unveiled, and it is not difficult to see its determination to transform to electrification.
It's just that today's new energy vehicle market is fiercely competitive, even if Toyota is the king of traditional fuel vehicles, whether it can succeed in the future has to draw a big question mark.