- Toyota to offer four new EV models on sale in the United States by 2027
- The company has already spoken openly on the subject of pure electric vehicles.
- Toyota’s North American vice president wants a ‘fair share’ of the US electric vehicle market
Toyota has just revealed its plans for four new purely electric cars – and they’re part of a US initiative that’s something of a gear shift from the auto giant’s previous comments on electric vehicles.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda has spoken out about battery electric vehicles in the past. He already claimed in 2024 that the electric car segment would only make up a maximum of 30% of the market, adding that he believed “customers, not regulations or politics,” should make the decision on which path to take, according to a Forbes report at the time.
As a result, the company continued to offer a multi-pronged strategy to reduce its overall emissions, which included a strong focus on plug-in hybrid, self-charging hybrid and even hydrogen vehicles.
So far, it’s been relatively slow to offer a lineup that includes several pure battery-electric options, the bZ4x, and a handful of battery-powered utility vehicles flying the flag for batteries and electric motors.
However, the Japanese company has just revealed plans for several new pure-electric models that it hopes will give it a competitive advantage in the United States, where the current government is creating an increasingly uncertain market by eliminating tax credits and even reversing historic decisions regarding greenhouse gases.
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These four dedicated battery electric vehicles will join a more comprehensive lineup of hybrid EV and plug-in hybrid options that cover everything from minivans and trucks to popular crossovers and SUVs.
David Christ, vice president of Toyota Motor North America, told Automotive News that the company recognizes that sales are down after “federal incentives disappear.” But the company believes it deserves its fair share of the electric vehicle market. “These four cars will help us get there,” Christ said.
Too late for Toyota?
This new approach from Toyota isn’t just about making waves in the US market, where the new bZ was among the best-selling electric vehicles in the US last month, beating out the Hyundai IONIQ 5, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Kia EV9 and Honda Prologue, according to Electrek.
Europe has also seen a host of new electric models arrive, including the new Urban Cruiser compact SUV, which starts at just £28,495 (around $39,000 / AU$55,000), as well as the aforementioned C-HR+ and the updated bZ4x. There are also a handful of utility vehicles and a version of the bZ Woodland model, called the bZ4x Touring in the UK.
This new commitment to electric vehicles may not bring super-fast range figures or charging speeds, but it adds Toyota’s long-standing reputation for quality and reliability to the broader electric vehicle market.
It also comes at a time when new Chinese brands appear online seemingly every month. For those who don’t want to take risks with a newcomer, Toyota represents a safe pair of hands.
This, along with very competitive pricing, might well make Akio Toyoda’s remarks a little silly, especially as some European countries have already seen electric vehicles take well over 30% of the overall market, with Norway on track to sell 100% new zero-emission cars in the coming years.
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