According to news on December 5, Japanese Toyota executives in Europe believe that it will still take several years for electric vehicles to be fully popularized locally, and the company is preparing to achieve localized production of pure electric vehicles around 2026. Toyota Europe CEO Yoshihiro Nakata said that Europe still lacks the key elements to vigorously popularize electric vehicles, but the development of local electric vehicles has been enough for Toyota to start considering local production plans.
Yoshihiro Nakada said in an interview in Brussels last week that Toyota will have about 15 different zero-carbon emission vehicles in the European market by 2026, and the company expects to deliver more than 250,000 battery electric vehicles by then.
"We have always been clear that we will produce pure electric vehicles locally when we can ensure sustainable production," Nakata said. "We believe we can take this step in this time frame."
Localizing production outside of Japan is not a decision Toyota takes lightly. Twenty-six years after the Prius was introduced, Toyota still hasn't assembled the hybrid car overseas. In 2010, ten years after exporting the Prius to Europe, Toyota began producing hybrid vehicles locally.
Toyota's willingness to disclose a rough date for the start of local production in Europe is particularly important given Toyota's typically cautious approach and the company's longstanding skepticism about mainstream consumers' readiness to fully embrace electric vehicles. This shows that despite concerns about slowing EV growth, the industry is still moving in the right direction.
Toyota Europe chief operating officer Matt Harrison said in an interview that Toyota still has a lot of work to do around improving the local battery supply chain in Europe, expanding the public charging infrastructure network and building a second-hand electric vehicle market. There are several local factors in its favor, including widespread environmental awareness among consumers and policymakers firmly pursuing emissions reduction targets.
Several European automakers are currently facing challenges in selling electric vehicles, which also makes Toyota's mid-term prospects for electric vehicles less urgent. Mercedes-Benz recently called competition in the electric vehicle field "brutal"; Volkswagen began laying off employees, suspending production, and canceled plans to build a new electric vehicle factory because it failed to meet its order targets. Renault has postponed the launch of its electric vehicle business until next year.
"The stimulus isn't quite there yet, so I'm not surprised that we're a little wobbly," Harrison said. "There's a lot of fundamentals that need to be addressed before we start moving."
So far, Toyota hasn't paid the price for stalling on pure electric vehicles, and that's because it has more than two dozen hybrids on sale. The company has more than 300,000 orders in Europe and expects sales to continue to grow next year if the market remains flat.
Stellantis NV CEO Carlos Tavares recently revealed that he is preparing for the European Parliament elections next June, which may lead to local policies shifting to pure electric vehicles. But Harrison said any change in leadership is unlikely to bring drastic changes.
In Europe, Harrison said, "there is a strong underlying responsibility and habit among consumers that is not swayed by an environmental agenda."