- Toyota plans to convert older cars into eco-friendly models by updating parts, the AP reported.
- CEO Akio Toyoda announced the effort at an industry event in Tokyo on Friday, according to the AP.
- Toyota has been reluctant to produce electric vehicles due to high costs and concerns about lack of demand.
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Toyota has an idea to make its cars more environmentally friendly – and it’s not about producing new electric vehicles.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said the company plans to employ a “conversion” strategy in which older cars are converted into more sustainable models by replacing certain parts, the Associated Press reported.
At an industry event on Friday, Toyoda — the grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda — said Toyota is looking into replacing sustainable technologies like fuel cells and electric motors in older cars to accelerate the industry’s push toward electric vehicles.
“I don’t want to leave any car lover behind,” Toyoda said at the Tokyo Auto Salon, according to the AP.
The proposal marks a significant step for Toyota, which has lagged behind its competitors in adopting electric vehicles.
The company has come under increasing criticism for its lack of commitment to making electric vehicles — a reluctance due in large part to the cars’ high manufacturing costs and Toyoda’s insistence that some markets, notably the U.S., are not ready for them, The reports the Wall Street Journal.
Instead, the company has been looking at alternatives in the form of hybrid cars, which run on a mix of gasoline and electric power, and hydrogen-powered cars. While Toyota has established itself as a leader in hybrid vehicles, the company’s dedication to the model has led some to believe it has become a means of avoiding a broader push towards electric vehicles, the AP reported.
According to Electrek, which tracks electric vehicle development, Toyota has less than 1% of U.S. sales from non-hybrid zero-emission vehicles and “has the least developed supply chain to reduce carbon emissions.”
At the event, Toyoda said that although “regulations have sparked a race to get electric vehicles out as early as possible,” ultimately “this is not Toyota’s approach,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Despite its reluctance to adopt EVs, the company set a target in December 2021 of selling 3.5 million EVs annually by 2030. At the time, Toyota also promised to make all models in its Lexus lineup electric in the US, China and Europe by 2030.
“[It] It’s going to be difficult, but we have to do that,” Toyoda said in December 2021, the Journal reported.