Of course, the story doesn’t end there. Toyota is now inspired and determined to regroup and find better solutions. Incoming CEO Koji Sato hasn’t set any new goals for electric vehicle production or sales — so far sticking with Akio Toyoda’s target of 3.5 million in 2030.
But that could change. As Sato is putting together his leadership team, the company is already working on a new EV platform to go into production in 2026.
While many revealing quotes were from unnamed executives and engineers not authorized to speak publicly, Sato has been unusually blunt in his criticism of Toyota’s EV approach.
“To deliver attractive BEVs to more customers, we must streamline the structure of the car, and — with a BEV-first mindset — we must drastically change the way we do business, from manufacturing to sales and service,” Sato said.
Drastic change may sound troubling to the many suppliers and dealers who have thrived as part of Toyota’s extended organization. In reality, it may be difficult.
It occurred to me as I was interviewing Greimel on the Daily Drive podcast that in some ways, this concern over the surprisingly outstanding work being done at Tesla is almost a gift for Sato.
Toyota has been so successful for so long that its leaders have had to work to create an internal sense of crisis to combat complacency. Here, Sato has a crisis he can bring right to them.
While Toyota’s critics — the EV extremists who are aghast that any company would continue to develop or produce hybrids and other gasoline-burning vehicles — are narrow-minded in their industry analysis, they may well feel legitimized by Sato’s direction.
After all, if Toyota had been more “all in” on EVs, it would already have a dedicated platform and production sites.
But here’s the thing: The conversion to EVs — and concurrently, competition with Tesla — is a long, long game.
Sato is tacitly acknowledging that Toyota is going to be behind Tesla in EV manufacturing efficiency at least until 2026. But getting it right then will mean a lot more than getting it right now.
In this dawning EV industry, battery minerals and refining capacity, cell plants, pack plants, chargers, renewable energy and recycling are all underdeveloped. It’s not going to be until maybe 2030, give or take five years, for this to all take shape.
