A wasted investment is worse than buying into CO2 quotas to comply with the US government's rules, says a Toyota director now.
If you ask Toyota in the US, motorists expect to buy fewer electric cars towards 2030. And far fewer electric cars than the US Environmental Protection Agency expects.
For the same reason, the brand in the USA chooses to buy into CO2 quotas, instead of spending more resources than already planned on the development of electric cars.
This is what the managing director of Toyota in North America, Ted Ogawa, tells Automotive News.
Last year, the US authorities said that it is expected that 60 percent of all new cars in the US will run on electricity by 2030.
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However, Toyota does not believe that. Even when the authorities would go so far as to say that a more realistic bid is 54 percent, the Japanese are far from it.
In fact, Toyota does not believe that electric cars will account for more than 30 percent of the car market in 2030.
To the media , Ogawa says that the car brand will therefore base its production targets on its own expectations and not the US authorities' targets.
– Our starting point is the expected demand among motorists. For example, the rules state that more than half of the car market will be powered by electric cars.
– But our current plan is a good 30 percent (electric cars, ed.). We respect the legislation, but the drivers' demand is more important, says Ted Ogawa.
Incidentally, the same Ted Ogawa is not worried that Toyota is currently lagging behind Tesla. The Japanese will catch up, it says.
One thing, however, Ted Ogawa acknowledges. Toyota cannot follow the aggressive pricing strategy that many Chinese brands use to gain a share of the market.
The fact that Toyota will not spend more money than planned on electric cars does not mean that the brand will not spend money on the development of electrified cars at all.
In the US alone, the Japanese will spend up to 31 billion dollars, equivalent to 213 billion kroner, on a battery factory in North Carolina and the development of electric cars.
