Toyota adopts “BEV-first” mindset under new CEO

Koji Sato is entering the top job at Toyotaand one of his first acts was to increase the Japanese giant’s focus on electric vehicles.

Lexus will lead the transition, with the luxury brand confirmed to debut Electric vehicles only in 2035.

“In order to offer attractive BEVs to more customers, we had to streamline the structure of the car, and―with a BEV-first mindset” we had to drastically change the way we do it, says Sato-san. business knowledge, from production to sales and services,” said Sato-san. who took power on April 1, 2023.

Toyota says it is transforming into a “mobility company” but is not moving away from what it calls a “multi-directional” or “multi-road” approach, in which electric vehicles are one of many types of propulsion.

The company currently offers a wide range of hybrid vehicles, as well as hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in select markets.

It also said it prioritized diversification, acknowledging the fact that customer needs vary across markets.

Toyota has previously confirmed it will launch 30 EVs by 2030, by which time it wants to sell at least 3.5 million EVs globally each year.

Sato-san said: “Now is the right time, we will accelerate the development of BEV with a new approach.

“Specifically, we will be developing the next-generation BEV for the Lexus brand in 2026, with everything from the battery and platform to the way a car is built optimized for the BEV, while opening expanding our existing BEV line.”

In addition to ramping up development of electric vehicles, Toyota is aiming to accelerate development of its Arene software platform with its subsidiary Woven and aim to be carbon neutral in Asia.

Toyota has confirmed what their senior leadership team will look like from April 1, with Sato-san becoming president and CEO, Hiroki Nakajima becoming chief technology officer, and Kazuaki Shingo taking over as director. manufacture.

Yoichi Miyazaki will also become chief financial officer in addition to his current role as competition director, and design director Simon Humphries will also take on the title of brand director.

Sato-san thanked outgoing president Akio Toyoda for his “product-focused and region-focused management.”

“Over the past 13 years, by facing many challenges and experiencing many failures on the front lines, we have continued to learn from many different perspectives about the value of creating cars,” he said. Get better and better and become the best car maker in town.

“Thanks to that, at Toyota, we now have many people who are able to manage the company. That’s why, when we adopt a team management, we will go all out to engage in ‘inheritance and evolution’.”

Toyota has been criticized in recent years for alleged boycotts and anti-electric lobbying.

For example, New York Times reported in 2021 that Toyota sent Chris Reynolds, a senior executive overseeing government affairs, to Washington DC to lobby against an active shift to electric vehicles in favor of a larger role of hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Although it has provided some electric conversions to existing vehicles – including a lower-volume RAV4 EV a decade ago and, more recently, an electric vehicle C-HR for China – their first clean EV is new bZ4x that is due here this year. That makes it a relative laggard in the EV space.