While many automakers have been aggressively developing all-electric vehicle models, Toyota has been taking it slow.
Despite being the pioneer of the model first synonymous with hybrid-electrics – the Prius – Toyota has barely dipped a toe in the EV market, releasing just one model in North America, the bZ4X. Instead the Japanese automaker has focused on what it refers to on its website as “the power of choice.” This adds hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell EVs and, of course, traditional internal combustion options.
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But a recent report from Reuters indicates that Toyota’s strategy may not suggest a laggard in the clean energy market, but rather, a different way to get there: sources say that Toyota’s future may be all hybrid, meaning it could actually be the first automaker to fully do away with gas-only cars.
Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s chairman, made some dismal predictions for the market for all-electrics earlier this year, saying he believed adoption of these vehicles would max out at 30% of total market share globally.
Since then the company’s “multi-pathway” strategy has offered a way to hedge any bets against consumer shifts. More recently, however, David Christ, head of sales and marketing for Toyota in North America, told Reuters, "Going forward, we plan to evaluate, carline by carline, whether going all-hybrid makes sense."
The shifts would come as each model reaches its redesign year. For the Rav4 that could be as soon as model year 2026, and Reuters points out that the Camry is losing its all-gas version already, in 2025, following in the footsteps of the Sienna and Land Cruiser.
Two anonymous sources told the news agency that the new hybrid line would feature bigger batteries and a plug-in. Meanwhile, Toyota has generated headlines over its claims that it has a solid state battery in development that would offer 750 miles of range.
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