Toyota retains coveted crown

news7f01/31/2023

5 3 minutes read

Regarding electric vehicles, Toyota has a lot more to say.

The Japanese automaker is far behind its competitors in the electric vehicle segment. It has only recently realized that its strategy may not be the right one.

Indeed, last week, the maker of the Camry sedan announced the resignation of its CEO, Akio Toyoda, grandson of Founder Kiichiro Toyoda. The company said it will “implement changes to the governance structure effective April 1, 2023, and changes to the board effective on the date of the general meeting of shareholders.” 119th regular”.

Toyoda, 66, will therefore step down as of April 1. His successor is Koji Sato, 53, Toyota’s brand manager and head of the luxury brand Lexus.

This change also shows that Toyota is tacitly admitting that its green car strategy has not been successful. Toyoda is said to have prevented the automaker from going fully electric.

Last October, the company said it would invest $70 billion in electric vehicles, with half that figure in 100% electric vehicles. Unlike other manufacturers, the group’s carbon-reduction strategy does not focus on battery electric vehicles.

Toyota sold 10.5 million vehicles by 2022

At that time, Toyoda (TM) – Get a free report doubled down by saying it would unveil a line of liquid-powered electric vehicles hydrogen and traditional charger lithium-ion battery pack.

This position makes Toyoda the wrong leader for leading the Prius hybrid maker’s attack against Tesla. (TSLA) – Get a free report and China’s leading electric vehicle manufacturers such as Byd (BYDDY) and Nio (NIO) – Get a free report. Investors also seem to be calling on auto groups to make clear their plans to compete in the electric sector.

With his reservations about electric cars, Toyoda became the wrong messenger.

At the same time, while Toyota waits to find out what Sato’s strategy will be, the company can console itself with the coveted crown. For the third year in a row the company holds the title of the world’s leading automaker based on sales.

Last year, Toyota sold nearly 10.5 million vehicles, almost stable (-0.1%) compared to 2021, the automaker announced in a report. New information posted on January 30. About 82% of sales are made outside of Japan. The figures include sales of Toyota, Lexus and Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd.

Toyota over Volkswagen 27% (VWAGY) – Get a free reportsold 8.3 million vehicles in 2022. VW’s numbers were down 7% compared to 2021. Last year was a difficult year for Volkswagen, which has been hurt by supply shortages due to the war of Russia in Ukraine.

Toyota overtook the German group in 2020 and has since retained the symbolic crown.

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However, the Japanese manufacturer has lost the title of the leading auto corporation in the US in terms of sales. The company sells fewer cars than General Motors (GM) – Get a free reportsold 2,274,088 vehicles, 7.9% more than 2,108,458 Toyota units sold.

“In 2022 (January-December), despite the impact of production restrictions due to the spread of covid-19, increased demand for semiconductors and other factors, sales Globally, it remained at a similar level year-on-year due to stable sales, and demand centered around Asia,” the company said.

It warned that “the situation remains unpredictable due to semiconductor shortages and covid-19. However, we will continue to carefully monitor the supply situation of components and minimize sudden production reductions.” as much as possible while doing our best to deliver as many vehicles to our customers on the earliest date.”