Toyota Motor Corp pushed back against critics, who say it has been slow to adopt battery electric vehicles (BEVs), arguing that there is a need to offer a variety of car options to suit different markets and customers. Is.
At its annual general meeting on Wednesday, the world’s largest automaker by sales doubled down on its position that it will stick with technologies including fuel cell vehicles and hybrids, which have made it a leader in cleaner cars for the past two decades. Have given.
In addition to concerns about its electrification strategy, Toyota executives faced several questions over CEO succession plans for ongoing chip shortages.
Once a favorite with environmentalists for its popular hybrid Prius model, Toyota has come under fire for not phasing out gasoline-powered cars and for lobbying it on climate policy.
“The goal is carbon neutrality,” Toyota’s chief technology officer Masahiko Maeda said at the meeting, in response to questions submitted by Danish pension fund Akademiker Pensions, which asked Toyota to refrain from lobbying to ease the transition to BEVs.
However, “customers need to choose,” Maeda said, in order to popularize electric cars that include plug-in hybrids. There should be a variety of options available and the automaker should not dilute them, he said.
Academics Pensions said in a statement after the AGM, “Toyota used the pretext of customer choice to avoid answering questions about lobbying activities … to slow the transition toward fossil-fuel-free cars.” “
“As investors, we expect more in 2022 against the backdrop of the climate crisis, which threatens to limit customer choices in much more than just the not-so-distant future.”
Toyota argues that hybrids still make sense in markets where the infrastructure is not ready to support the rapid move to BEVs, and is exploring the viability of green fuels for internal combustion engine cars, including hydrogen. Is.
Seiji Sugiura, a senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said there is a difference between Toyota, which approaches decarbonization in a “practical” way, and environmental groups that call for immediate action.
The situations are not polar opposites, he said, adding Toyota is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicle production phase.
The company last year committed to spend 8 trillion yen ($60 billion) by 2030 to electrify its cars, half of which is for the development of fully electric vehicles. Still, it expects annual sales of such cars to reach just 3.5 million vehicles by the end of this decade, or around a third of current sales.
Just last month, Toyota debuted its first mass-produced all-electric vehicle domestically, albeit only for lease, and gasoline-electric hybrid models are far more popular in Japan.
next CEO
When asked about the succession plan, chief executive Akio Toyoda, who has led the company for 13 years, said he was “thinking about the timing and selection of a successor.”
There has been no indication that Toyoda plans to step down.
The grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda, 66-year-old Toyoda, led the company through a dark phase when Toyota sales fell after recalling millions of vehicles and the company reported billions of dollars in losses.
“I would choose someone who understands the company’s philosophy as my successor,” he said.
Toyoda has sought to improve Toyota’s corporate culture, spend more time with younger executives, and reduce some senior positions.
In 2020, he hired company veterans Maeda and Kenta Kon in top roles. Both were 51 at the time – a relatively young age for Toyota’s top executives.
Toyota – which sold 10.5 million vehicles in 2021, overtaking nearest rival Volkswagen AG – has cut production repeatedly this year, plagued by a global chip crisis.
It expects chip shortages to continue, although there are signs of improvement, Kazunari Kumakura, the head of its purchasing group, said on Wednesday.
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