Koji Sato will take over from Akio Toyoda on April 1.
The company’s EV offensive will center around a new platform that will launch in 2026.
Lexus will have a leading role in this push for electrification.
Toyota is late in the EV game since it currently only has the bZ4X and the Lexus RZ to sell in North America, but this could change in the coming years.
Indeed, the CEO of the company announced he will step down in April and his successor seems to have different views on electrification.
This is why only weeks after his appointment as future CEO, Koji Sato announced he wants to “drastically” change the automaker’s strategy in terms of future products and electric vehicles.
According to his vision, Toyota will introduce many new electric models that will be built upon a new platform that will be launched in 2026.
Lexus is expected to adopt a leading role in this push toward electrification by aiming to sell 1 million EVs globally in 2030 while the whole of Toyota (including Lexus) aims for 3.5 million EVs in the same time frame.
This is an ambitious goal since the corporation only managed to shift 24,466 electric vehicles around the world in 2022, but the new CEO says expanding the new EV strategy will be his first priority.
The other two parts of his three-pronged approach include a continuous focus on software development and working to achieve carbon neutrality in Asia.
Despite this significant change in priority for Toyota, Sato will keep at least one of his predecessor’s ideas: not putting all of the company’s eggs in the same basket.
Indeed, even if EVs will become the priority, Toyota will not abandon work on hydrogen and hybrid technologies since the new CEO, like Toyoda, doesn’t believe a single strategy for the entire automotive industry can work.
More details about the new strategy and upcoming models are expected once Sato officially takes office in April.
Source: Inside EVs
