Shortly after revealing its high-tech next-generation electric vehicle production line in Japan, Toyota has now shared an ambitious plan to boost its EV output to lock horns with its surging American and European rivals.
Toyota has informed its major suppliers of a new target of making 600,000 EVs in 2025, a three-fold increase from its earlier goal of churning 190,000 EVs in 2024, reported Japanese publication Nikkei. The auto giant sold 24,000 EVs in 2022 and aims to sell 150,000 EVs in 2023, as per the report.
In the US, Toyota’s pure EV sales are a fraction of Tesla’s, and considerably lower than Ford and General Motors. But it plans to catch up – as many as 10 new Toyota and Lexus EVs are in the pipeline, and they could launch by 2026.
The Japanese publication reports that the electric version of the internationally sold Hilux pickup truck could launch in Thailand this year, and new SUVs are slated for launch in the US and China next year. Among them is a three-row electric SUV that will be assembled in the US at the brand’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant.
Toyota might be among the top electrified vehicle sellers in the US with over 20,000 plug-in cars sold in the first half of 2023, but pure EV sales appear bleak. The brand sold 4,776 BEVs till June 2023, including the bZ4X crossover and the Lexus RZ 450e. The hydrogen-powered Mirai accounted for an additional 1,722 units in the same time frame.
Assuming Toyota meets its target, it might still remain far behind Tesla, BYD, and others. Tesla estimates that it will produce 1.8 million EVs in 2023, and is looking to expand the presence of its Giga factories across the globe, including a new plant in Mexico, and possibly India to manufacture a mass-market EV projected to cost $24,000.
On September 19, 2023, Toyota revealed its next-generation EV demonstration line. The announcement entailed several upgrades to its factories across Japan, with Tesla-inspired manufacturing chops like giga casting, a three-part modular structure, a solid-state battery development line, and more.