For the past thirteen years, Akio Toyoda has been the president of Toyota Motor Corporation. Under his leadership, Toyota has flourished.
If you think that Toyota has been dragging its proverbial feet when it comes to electrifying its lineup, that could be true, but only to a point. Akio Toyoda is a racer at heart and understands the importance of excitement. It’s not enough to offer some of the most reliable and useful vehicles in the world; you also have to grab people by their imagination and let them wonder what could be.
Taking up a new post
Earlier this year, Toyoda announced he would step down as president and chief executive to become the chairman of Toyota’s board. His new role began on April 1, but his influence should continue to be just as strong. Because Akio is a race driver, he speaks the lingo of the engineers and development teams. This has allowed those in charge of vehicle development to bring their best ideas to him and continue to build on the ideal of offering no boring cars at all.
There’s no rush to entire the EV market
Akio Toyoda pointed out at a dealership meeting last October that we were all supposed to be driving fully autonomous cars by now, but that hasn’t happened. Even with the push to higher percentages of EVs, it’s going to take a lot longer to mainstream them than most would allow the public to believe. For this reason, Toyota has never been in a rush to enter any market. The Toyota Prius is the best-selling and most popular hybrid in the world, yet it wasn’t the first; it simply came at the right time and was the best.
More sports car development at Toyota
When you think of the Toyota brand, the sports cars might not come to mind first, but this brand has increased its sports car credibility under Toyoda’s leadership. The Toyota GR86 and Supra are the classic sports cars, but more have begun to emerge. We now have a sporty version of the Yaris in foreign markets called the GR Yaris, and now the GR Corolla has emerged to be a fun and active hot hatch. The GR Corolla is coming to the United States to be a great new addition. The TRD team has even put their mitts on the Camry, which is often thought of as the boring and reliable Toyota.
Does this mean Toyota doesn’t embrace electrification?
That’s not the case at all. In fact, the growth and development of Toyota hybrid and PHEV models have put them in the lead in this category. Over the past 25 years, Toyota has sold more than 22.5 million electrified vehicles, which have reduced emissions by the same amount as 7.5 million fully electric vehicles. This tells us that Toyota has an excellent mix of gas and hybrid vehicles that make driving better for everyone looking for a great new car or SUV to drive.
Electrified Toyotas should be exciting
As you might expect from a race driver, Akio Toyoda can appreciate some of the benefits of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) with the exciting acceleration offered. Once Toyota brings more EVs to the market, it won’t be hard to imagine an electrified Supra that could accelerate faster than the Tesla Model S Plaid. The goal set by Akio is to ensure all Toyota and Lexus vehicles are exciting and fun to drive, even if they are mostly used for family driving or daily commutes.
What will Toyota offer by 2030?
Toyota is already on the verge of unleashing tons of EVs on the world. The Toyota bZ4X and Lexus RZ450e are the first fully electric SUVs to come from this brand. The array of electrified models will include several hydrogen fuel cell models, hybrid versions, gasoline models, and 30 BEVs by 2030. This mixture of models should mean that Toyota has one of the most extensive vehicle menus in the world when completed. This menu of various models with different powertrains is exactly what’s necessary but also disruptive. Some automakers are moving toward an all-electric vehicle lineup, but not Toyota.
Akio Toyoda has led the company through some of the toughest years, including the Great Recession. Will this company continue in the same direction with a new president and CEO, or will something change? Akio shows the path to success; all his successor needs to do is follow it.
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