Toyota to meet with suppliers to discuss EV plans

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Toyota to meet with suppliers to discuss EV plans

Robert Besser
17 Dec 2022, 01:43 GMT+10

As it races to narrow the gap on price and performance with industry leaders Tesla and BYD, Toyota will announce adjustments to its electric vehicle strategy to key suppliers beginning early next year
Toyota has been looking at ways to improve the competitiveness of EVs being planned for this decade, partly by accelerating the adoption of performance-enhancing technologies
But the changes included in the plan could cause delays to some of its EV development programs originally planned for the three-year period

TOKYO, Japan: As it races to narrow the gap on price and performance with industry leaders Tesla and BYD, Toyota will announce adjustments to its electric vehicle strategy to key suppliers beginning early next year.

Toyota has been looking at ways to improve the competitiveness of EVs being planned for this decade, partly by accelerating the adoption of performance-enhancing technologies for its planned EVs.

But the changes included in the plan could cause delays to some of its EV development programs originally planned for the three-year period, including the successors to Toyota’s first two EVs for major markets, the bZ4X and the Lexus RZ.

Toyota will convene a major gathering of suppliers in February, the first such global supplier convention since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Toyota said that it is “always actively discussing and working with key suppliers and partners on a variety of topics” to achieve carbon neutrality, adding that it had no new details to disclose on EV development projects.

In October, Reuters reported that Toyota has been reviewing a three-stage plan for developing and releasing EVs.

However, while a working group, headed by former chief competitive officer Shigeki Terashi, looks to improve cost performance and technology in the fast-growing market for EVs, it has suspended work on some battery-powered car projects announced last year.

The review comes even as Toyota has expressed its belief that gasoline-electric hybrids, a market it pioneered with the Prius, will remain a crucial part of the transition to carbon-neutral transport.

Toyota has been working with two suppliers, Denso and Aisin, for its EV reboot.