By Toyota Motor plans to triple electric vehicle production in 2025 from its 2024 plan, Nikkei has learned, as the automaker steps up its electrification push to catch up to rivals including Tesla and BYD.
The automaker notified major parts suppliers of its plans to boost production of Toyota and Lexus brand EVs to 600,000 units in 2025. The production target for 2024 is set at 190,000 units. Toyota sold 24,000 EVs in 2022.
Toyota’s production target for all vehicles in 2023 is over 10 million units, including about 150,000 EVs. For 2025, the company aims to produce 11 million vehicles, meaning EVs would make up 5% to 6% of all vehicles.
The sales plan includes original equipment manufacturer models. A parts company executive estimates that Toyota’s EV sales in 2025 will be “around 800,000 units, including OEM sales.”
Toyota is rolling out a new EV Hilux model in Thailand as early as this year and electric SUVs in China and the U.S. next year. And an electric Lexus ES model is slated for release in Japan in 2025.
It is also jointly developing EV versions of mini commercial vehicles with Suzuki Motor and subsidiary Daihatsu Motor.
The carmaker will produce EVs at two of its main plants in the city of Toyota in Aichi prefecture, as well as at a Lexus plant in Fukuoka prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
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In the U.S., batteries for the EVs will be primarily produced at a dedicated plant scheduled to start operations in 2025. Toyota will also set up production lines for batteries at two Aichi plants. Battery subsidiary Prime Planet Energy & Solutions will increase production.
Toyota will also procure some batteries from Chinese battery leader Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), and China’s top EV maker BYD. It is also in negotiations to procure from South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.
Toyota plans to introduce a next-generation EV platform starting with Lexus models sold in 2026. It will adopt gigacasting equipment that can mold aluminum into vehicle chassis parts, saving time, money and labor.
Toyota hopes to sell 3.5 million EVs in 2030, of which 1.7 million will employ the new platform.
The company’s overall strategy is to value all power sources, including gasoline and hybrid vehicles, rather than bet its future solely on EVs. But its EVs currently suffer from low profitability and sales are lagging behind Tesla and BYD.(NIkki)
