Toyota is the world’s highest-selling car manufacturer and they are famous for their reluctant stand on electric cars. This could also be a reaction to not having an EV lineup despite having their first EV two decades ago. Toyota believes that the future is not all electric and they already have one whole foot in hybrid and hydrogen cars. In fact, Toyota had the early movers advantage on all three: hybrid, EVs, and Hydrogen vehicles. It's a known fact the Prius was well received in the developed nations regardless of the hideous looks. But in 1996, Toyota hit the Japanese market with the RAV EV and later the United States of America. Although, the EV ball game has been won by Chinese automakers lately. Does all this make Toyota an EV disbeliever?
Toyota's ICE Promises
Australian media Car Expert reports that Toyota Gazoo Racing has no plans of switching to an all-electric future and will make ICE cars until they are banned. The news was spilled by Toyota Gazoo Racing president Tomoya Takahashi as "to use internal combustion engines as much as possible. There may be a time in the future when engines are banned, but internal combustion engines aren't bad, the enemy is carbon.”
What does this mean? If there is a way of bringing fun cars from Toyota, we can expect them to burn gasoline. The GR wing is investing in ICE technology and there are a few new models already in the pipeline also in future, which might also include an SUV. This would be the first SUV to come under Gazoo Racing and president Tomaya believes the SUV is a necessity for a section of consumers and they would love to have GR prowess underneath the hood. He added that he thinks it will help the brand to expand. In my opinion, it is a working formula used from Porsche to Ferrari.
Toyota’s Real Enemy
Tomoya Takahashi is also open to the possibilities of flex-fuel and hydrogen-powered sports cars from Toyota Gazoo Racing. However, these new claims could be good news as well as a piece of bad news. This could be good news for all the petrolheads and those who are expecting GR to enter India but bad news for all those who were awestruck by the cool GR FT-se concept in the 2023 Japanese Mobility show. While GR is focusing more on ICE and has no current plan for an electric sports car in the near future, the FT-se will take longer to see the light of day.
