Akio Toyoda Is Stepping Aside As CEO Of Toyota. Now What?

[RV_]

Finally! Now the giant automaker might step into the new millenium. He still tried to do hydrogen far past the point it became obvious it was not happening for privately owned vehicles because: infrastructure.

Excerpt:

"That’s the news. Now, what does it mean? Akio Toyoda has been a fierce supporter of hybrid vehicles and an advocate for hydrogen fuel cells. His embrace of electric vehicles — at a time when virtually every other automaker on the planet has been rushing to electrify its product lineup — can best be described as tepid. The battery-electric cars the company has brought to market, such as the ill-named bZ4X, have also been trepidatious forays into the world of EVs with little to make them compelling alternatives to Tesla, Mercedes, Volvo, Volkswagen, and a slew of Chinese competitors.

In recent months, under Toyoda’s leadership, Toyota has given the impression that it has lost its compass, according to The Street. Last October, the company said it would invest $70 billion in electrified vehicles, with only half that figure going to develop pure battery-electric vehicles and the other half devoted to vehicles powered by fuel cells that operate on hydrogen. In fact, Toyoda’s preference for hydrogen is so pronounced, it seems he has quite a blind spot for any other technologies with the exception of the hybrid vehicles the company has been offering for the past 25 years.

The Takeaway

The situation at Toyota has been festering for a long time. As far back as 2017, CleanTechnica noted Akio Toyoda’s ambivalence about electric cars. He has complained that there are too few charging stations to support the EV revolution and he is partially correct about that. On the other hand, he has been a staunch supporter of fuel cell technology, even though hydrogen refueling stations are virtually nonexistent.

Whereas Tesla has been busy building its Supercharger network and other companies have formed partnerships to create charging networks for their customers, Toyota has refused to support either charging networks or hydrogen refueling stations, preferring to muddle through with its now ancient (in automotive terms) hybrid technology.

There is an old expression that says people must either lead, follow, or get out of the way. Akio Toyoda seems to have chosen the last option. Hopefully he will not use his position as chairman of the board to stifle Koji Sato’s plans to take the company in new directions. Toyota is one of the biggest car companies in the world, but if it declines to get on board with the changeover to battery-electric cars, it could find itself on the outside looking in as newer, more nimble companies take its place."

More and related hotlinks in the article here:

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/01/27/akio-toyoda-is-stepping-aside-as-ceo-of-toyota-now-what/