Lede

Toyota is considering a dedicated platform for battery electric vehicles in order to compete with Tesla's design and manufacturing innovations.

Summary

• Toyota is considering a dedicated platform for battery electric vehicles in order to compete with Tesla's design and manufacturing innovations.
• A new EV platform would be the result of a review of Toyota's electric car strategy undertaken last year.
• Its current production architecture, the e-TNGA system, was launched in 2019 and produces electric vehicles on the same assembly line as gasoline cars and hybrids.
• Several projects that were supposed to take advantage of the e-TNGA platform are now being delayed or cancelled.
• Toyota recognises the need to match Tesla's innovations if it is to drive down production costs and turn its all-electric business into a higher margin one.
• Toyota's lack of battery electric models appears to be hurting sales in the US where the growth of EVs is outpacing that of the overall market.
• Toyota is expected to lay out a strategy that emphasises "diverse powertrains", with gasoline hybrids remaining key to its business even as it ramps up EVs.
• Some of Toyota's suppliers have also privately expressed concern about its slow embrace of EVs.