Toyota/Lexus to the rest of the world : We Done Told You!

We’re facing some rather strange headwinds in the automotive realm. What was a forgone conclusion: ‘‘Mass adoption of EV vehicles’’

“Turned into a mass ‘meh-doption’.”

Combination of idiotic prices, real world lack-o-range, our consistently broken charging infrastructure, slow charging speeds for said infastructure, wonky onboard electronics and the general LACK of reliability…

The per-and-insistence of an EV only future has auto driven itself straight off a cliff.

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The per-and-insistence of an EV only future has auto driven itself straight off a cliff. --

But, that’s not to say, consumers are back to their old buying habits. If anything, they are demanding higher efficiency vehicles without sacrificing space, comfort, power and driving range. That leads the industry going back to what they should’ve kept developing in the first place…hybrid powertrains.

Why did the automotive industry veer away so quickly and decisively on Hybrids? Simple. Economics.

Hybrid vehicles, if you’re not aware already, combine a traditional ICE powertrain with an electric powertrain. Combining the mechanical complexity of a modern day ICE engine to an EV powertrain AND have them work together seamlessly…takes effort. Any additional effort for an automaker equates adds to their bottom line.

In other words:

“EV’s, by their nature, are ‘simpler’ vehicles. Simple Vehicles are cheaper to produce. Cheaper to produce equals more profit for an automaker. ”

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The more complicated the vehicle, the more expensive it is to produce. Which negates any potential profit.

But senior leaders over at ToMoCo, didn’t look at just their bottom line. They knew the pitfalls of modern EV design, sustainability and practicality. They knew it because they’re actual gear heads. Heck, look up Akio Toyoda and tell me he is not a gearhead!

So the prophetic senior people over at ToMoCo attempted to sway concerns on the continued Hybrid development instead of EV development with quotes such as:

““For as much as people want to talk about EVs, the marketplace isn’t mature enough and ready enough ... at the level we would need to have mass movement,” ”

— Jack Hollis executive vice president of sales at Toyota Motor North America : October 2022

““With a billion people in the world living without electricity, limiting their choices and ability to travel by making expensive cars isn’t the answer.” Jan : 2024
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“People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,” Toyoda told reporters. “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly…The right answer is still unclear, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one option.” Dec : 2022”

— Akio Toyoda : Toyota Chairman :

““In the distant future, I’m not investing assuming that battery electrics are 100% of the market. I just don’t see it,”
“It really will be a mixed market.””

— Jim Adler, founding managing director Toyota Ventures, the automaker’s venture capital unit

But investors, lobbyists and a slew of others relentlessly beat them down to submission. So the messaging didn’t really stick. Those same forces, pushed Akio Toyoda, whose family started Toyota, from the CEO’s seat in January 2023.

If I was Akio Toyoda, I would’ve jumped in front of the nearest camera do the following:

But alas, he did not.

Toyota’s senior leadership saw that something needed to be done to assuage Wall Street and the lobbyists, so they began a….errrr….let’s say half hearted EV development effort. What they didn’t do was stop Hybrid development.

Unlike what GM, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes, Ford…literally EVERY one of their competitors did, which was immediately announce the halting of development of ICE powertrains as fast as humanly possible. You might ask why so freakin’ quickly?

It’s simple, think of the thousands of tiny, minute and yet precisely machined components that make a traditional gas engine. There is a price tag attached to each and every one of them.

So what those other automakers realized was that if they halt ICE development immediately, they can stop BUYING and/or paying for those thousands of individual components.

“In other words, it was a sin of Economics and not engineering that lead those automakers down this road. ”

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So what does this mean for the future? Is the EV dead? NO.

But it ain’t exactly the automotive Jeebus everyone made it out to be either.

While other much smarter people figure the best way to fully electrify and/or ZEV a vehicle…let us go back to what ToMoCo was trying to say all along:

You want excellent gas mileage, low emissions along with the known quantity that is the internal combustion engine?

To borrow an old Ford tagline:

Have you driven a Hybrid lately?