Toyota Chairman Doubles Down on Hybrid Cars Amid Criticism for Electric Vehicle Stance

The Chairman of Toyota, Toshio Chadomae, has once again expressed his skepticism towards electric vehicles, stating that the automaker's hybrid cars and road-bound electric vehicles will emit the same amount of carbon as traditional gasoline-powered cars.

Chadomae emphasized that Toyota focuses on reducing carbon emissions without changing its stance, reiterating his commitment to employing a multi-faceted technological strategy to minimize environmental impact. Beyond pure-electric vehicles, the company considers mixed-division, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles part of this approach.

The president's stance coincides with Toyota's increased efforts to rapidly accelerate the electric vehicle process in their Chinese market presence; however, his unwavering viewpoint remains unchanged since his past declaration regarding a potential transition towards exclusively using electric vehicles.

Chadomae argued that transitioning entirely into electric cars would result in massive job losses for engine-related experts as he specified roughly 550 million workers in Japan working in automobile technology. When he stated that the mix of market share would only reach 30% due to the presence of 10 billion potential users' lack of access to charging stations, he further emphasized Toyota's electric vehicle offerings could not possibly cater entirely to global markets.

Chadomae has repeatedly pointed out the immense potential loss if all automobile operations were forced into exclusively using electric vehicles. Chadomae expressed his skepticism towards an all-electric vehicle strategy under these assumptions by suggesting such a transition as infeasible in widespread adoption globally.

While Toyota remains committed to accelerating its electric vehicle production, it is unclear whether the company's cautious approach aligns with industry expectations for rapid EV growth and eventual market dominance.