Toyota, a Hybrid Pioneer, Struggles to Master Electric Vehicles

> Anita Rajan, general director of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association in the United States, said Japanese automakers were biding their time until they could make electric cars that were as reliable and affordable as the gasoline vehicles. > “I don’t know if there’s a benefit in being first to market with these vehicles,” Ms. Rajan said. “I think it’s how you’re entering the market and the thoughtfulness that you show for your customers.”

This is probably all much ado about nothing. Toyota's hybrids and PHEVs are selling as fast as they can make them. The only reason their sales numbers aren't higher in the US has been lack of parts! Cannibalizing the rare materials they could use to make their very successful hybrid lineup in order to make fewer/less profitable/less impactful cars seems pretty foolhardy.

Toyota's entire MO is to take old, trusted technologies that they can refine through manufacturing. Even as innovative as the Prius was, it was not a slapped together car to meet market demand. So I find this entire framing fraught.

I think the only warranted criticism of their current strategy is that they have not been aggressive enough about locking in battery suppliers. If Toyota wants to proceed down their current path of making every car in their lineup an ultra-durable 300k-achieving hybrid, they need to make sure they don't get bottlenecked. Every other manufacturer is locking in exclusivity deals with battery manufacturers, and Toyota still has a lot of scaling up to do.

"Struggles to master" sounds like propaganda / smear piece to me. For a country that is clearly NOT ready for widespread EV adoption outside of enthusiasts. Maybe they have the foresight to see the infrastructure isn't there yet and are playing the slow game despite the complete ignorance of activist politicians who are pushing rapid widespread adoption of this technology when clearly the preparation is woefully inadequate.

I was earlier this week watching NHK news on the same subject. They are still globally number 1 for car sales, the EV market is still small/new on a global scale and Toyota has by far the biggest spread of cars around the world compared to any competitor. Toyota knows it's a late comer and there are growing number of EV manufacturers. China was mentioned specifically for their feature preference towards vehicle intelligence and personal device integration/compatibility over all other features including economy, re liability, service costs etc They have put software as the number 1 priority for selling EV and offer new/growing software powered features and services. They understand the importance of batteries and are focusing effort on battery development, like solid state batteries rather than solely investing/competing on LI batteries. There was a clear tone of the need to adapt quickly, aiming to have 10 models by 2026.