Toyota to accelerate drive development in China
Toyota is fine-tuning its electric car strategy in the Chinese market. The aim is to accelerate the local development of electric drives and “smart technology” and to focus more on the needs of Chinese customers.
Toyota aims to achieve this with five main points. The first two fall more under “PR strategy”, as the Japanese carmaker wants to change the name of its largest research and development centre in China from ‘Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) Co., Ltd.’ to ‘Intelligent ElectroMobility R&D Center by TOYOTA (China) Co., Ltd.’ on 1 August. In short: IEM by Toyota. There, individual engineers from the development departments of Toyota’s Chinese joint ventures with FAW, GAC and BYD will be brought together.
“The Chinese market is growing at an unprecedented pace. Toyota will also work together as a group to reform how we work & think to survive in China,” said Tatsuro Ueda, CEO of Toyota China. “By promoting local development with IEM by TOYOTA at its core, we will attempt to develop and provide competitive products that can satisfy Chinese customers at a fast pace. Furthermore, we will look to share development results and lessons learned in China, not only within China, but also globally.”
From point three onwards, Toyota gets a little more specific: “Regarding electrification specifically, strengthened local development of all electrified vehicles (BEV, PHEV, HEV, FCEV) in order to achieve multi-pathway-based carbon neutrality”. Faster development of electric powertrains together with the suppliers Denso and Aisin is envisaged. The statement indicates that Toyota will continue to focus on a broad powertrain mix, namely the aforementioned BEV, PHEV, HEV and FCEV technologies.
To cater specifically to the Chinese clientele, local development of smart cockpits will be accelerated to ensure “better user experience through interior space design and use of AI, as well as autonomous driving systems/advanced safety features that better fit the actual situation in China”. In both electrification and smart cockpit development, Toyota is relying on local suppliers, among others, to keep manufacturing costs low and strengthen competitiveness in China. Cost reduction is the fifth and final point.
Cost reduction has been a key word in the industry lately, with several manufacturers pointing to the fact that while the BEV drive technology is there, it is still quite expensive. Representatives from Volkswagen’s PowerCo and GKN Automotive recently spoke about their company approaches to the problem.
In April, the Japanese company announced two more battery-electric models for the Chinese market with the bZ Sport Crossover Concept and the electric SUV bZ FlexSpace Concept. Both electric vehicles will be launched in China next year together with the Chinese partners FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota.
Only days earlier, Toyota CEO Koji Sato had announced ten new BEV models worldwide by 2026. However, the manufacturer also emphasised that it wants to continue to rely on different drive systems, such as the hybrid.
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