Under its newly-minted CEO, Koji Sato, Toyota has announced that it will be focusing its efforts on creating new electric vehicles “unique to Toyota and Lexus.” While the company has been dabbling in hybrid models for some time now, it only has one fully electric car, the bZ4X SUV. The company now says it plans to “accelerate” its approach to EV development.
Toyota is now aiming for a 2026 timeline to debut “next-generation” EVs under the Lexus brand. The company says it will be working on “everything from the battery and platform to how a car is built optimized for BEVs.”
“To deliver attractive BEVs to more customers, we must streamline the structure of the car, and―with a BEV-first mindset―we must drastically change the way we do business, from manufacturing to sales and service,” Toyota said in its announcement. “Lexus will lead this transformation.”
Beyond its work on EVs, Toyota will emphasize “intelligence” in future models, bringing together software and hardware to improve fuel efficiency and promote safer driving and ride quality. It plans to partner with various dealers and apps to collaborate on these innovations, though it hasn’t been revealed how exactly these initiatives will take form.
In other automotive news, Mercedes-Maybach has launched its first plug-in hybrid.
