Toyota has been a vocal opponent of phasing out fossil fuels. Their anachronistic position will kill their business.
Akio Toyoda is a dinosaur who is destroying a once great company. He should have been "retired" from Toyota leadership many years ago. Toyota is on the path of joining the long list of Japanese former giants who were outclassed by more forward-thinking competitors from China and Korea. By the time Toyota wakes up it will be too late. Sad.
Toyota has been a vocal opponent of phasing out fossil fuels. Their anachronistic position will kill their business.
Akio Toyoda is a dinosaur who is destroying a once great company. He should have been "retired" from Toyota leadership many years ago. Toyota is on the path of joining the long list of Japanese former giants who were outclassed by more forward-thinking competitors from China and Korea. By the time Toyota wakes up it will be too late. Sad.
As much as I am a critic of Toyota's current direction, they take things a bit too far in Europe. Like destroy and vandalize historically significant art and attack religious freedoms etc. But I do agree that top Toyota executives are hurting the company and need to rethink their strategy
As much as I am a critic of Toyota's current direction, they take things a bit too far in Europe. Like destroy and vandalize historically significant art and attack religious freedoms etc. But I do agree that top Toyota executives are hurting the company and need to rethink their strategy
Banksy was a graffiti vandal - now his artwork is worth millions.
I agree that throwing dirty motor oil on a Van Gogh painting is vandalism. But these billboards are pretty cool, well made, and really don't vandalize anything. They are placing them in places that would be occupied by mainstream advertisement.
Toyota needs to get the message. Tesla, BYD, Hyundai-KIA, VW are kicking their a**, and if Toyota doesn't wake up, they will fall to 3-5th place in just a few years. Hyundai-KIA has already quietly climbed to the 3rd place as the largest manufacturer in the world, and they are on the roll. VW is aggressively investing in the future. BYD is growing extremely fast, and in Toyota's own words, Toyota doesn't know how BYD can make so good cars for such a little cost.
Banksy was a graffiti vandal - now his artwork is worth millions.
I agree that throwing dirty motor oil on a Van Gogh painting is vandalism. But these billboards are pretty cool, well made, and really don't vandalize anything. They are placing them in places that would be occupied by mainstream advertisement.
Toyota needs to get the message. Tesla, BYD, Hyundai-KIA, VW are kicking their a**, and if Toyota doesn't wake up, they will fall to 3-5th place in just a few years. Hyundai-KIA has already quietly climbed to the 3rd place as the largest manufacturer in the world, and they are on the roll. VW is aggressively investing in the future. BYD is growing extremely fast, and in Toyota's own words, Toyota doesn't know how BYD can make so good cars for such a little cost.
Until leadership at the top is changed, Toyota is going to continue on to their current path. Their CEO is busy playing race car driver. If Toyota's declining sales, loss of market share to companies like Hyundai/Kia, and revenue doesn't convince them, I don't know what will
No, Akio Toyoda does not deserve criticism. He is actually correct. The case for converting to non-fossil fuels has not been credibly proved.....It is more hype than fact. Thats's all I can say about it without getting too deeply into politics.
No, Akio Toyoda does not deserve criticism. He is actually correct. The case for converting to non-fossil fuels has not been credibly proved.....It is more hype than fact. Thats's all I can say about it without getting too deeply into politics.
Politics is usually the convenient excuse to avoid the 800 lbs gorilla in the room. If he's correct, than why is Toyota losing market share, seeing declining sales and revenue? And why is Tesla growing at an exponential rate where they have to keep expanding and building new factories? Why is Hyundai and Kia selling so many EV's there is a huge waiting list? Am I missing something here? I can re-post all the figures and charts if you want
No, Akio Toyoda does not deserve criticism. He is actually correct. The case for converting to non-fossil fuels has not been credibly proved.....It is more hype than fact. Thats's all I can say about it without getting too deeply into politics.
Politics is usually the convenient excuse to avoid the 800 lbs gorilla in the room.
No. It is because the CL moderators don't allow political discussion.
Quote: f he's correct, then why is Toyota losing market share, seeing declining sales and revenue?
It has nothing to do with fossil fuels or EVs. As with Honda, Toyota is losing market share primarily because they are no longer perceived as having the most reliable vehicles in the industry. For decades, they sold primarily on their reliability image.
Toyota could have easily been that "Green" line in the chart had they had an actual good leader. Strong company with good fundamentals. strong sales, and a loyal customer base. Whatever the politics of the day are, companies like Tesla, BYD, Hyundai/kia took lemons and made lemonade. Good lemonade
No. It is because the CL moderators don't allow political discussion.
It has nothing to do with fossil fuels or EVs. As with Honda, Toyota is losing market share primarily because they are no longer perceived as having the most reliable vehicles in the industry. For decades, they sold primarily on their reliability image.
Pure copium.
EVs are exploding in sales because people like them. Not because big G is forcing them on people, not because Toyota quality has gone down etc. etc.
No, Akio Toyoda does not deserve criticism. He is actually correct. The case for converting to non-fossil fuels has not been credibly proved.....It is more hype than fact. Thats's all I can say about it without getting too deeply into politics.
Like it or not, politics play a big role. Europe is keen on electrification because they have invested heavily into developing wind power technology and want to reap the fruits of that investment. China dominates battery production, so the more manufacturers switch to EVs, the bigger business potential for them. Korea is eager to invest in new technologies to stick it up to Japan and so far has been very successful - just look at Samsung and LG vs. Sony, Panasonic, etc. And American manufacturers have lost leadership long time ago, and are now followers of European and Asian trends, rather than trendsetters. Additionally, Ford and GM see electrification as an opportunity to recoup market share they lost to Toyota.
Japanese government made a big mistake when they decided to make hydrogen the energy source of the future. That decision is understandable from historic point of view, but has proven to be misguided. In order to understand it, one has to go back to 2011 and the Fukushima disaster. Japan was confronted with the challenge of quickly phasing out nuclear energy. Solar and wind weren't mature enough yet to be a viable alternative. On the other hand, Australian coal was cheap and abundant. But burning coal was an unpopular idea. So Japan decided to invest in making hydrogen through thermal dissociation using coal as the source of heat. Disguise a "dirty" process as a "green" one. The process results in hydrogen that is expensive, but the CO2 can be "frozen" and injected underground. Economically it doesn't make sense, but Japan hardly had a different choice. This decision also propelled Japanese manufacturers to pursue hydrogen powered cars with the approval and support of the Japanese government. The problem is that this only made sense for Japan at that time, but not for the rest of the world. It doesn't even make sense for Japan in 2023, but by now they are so heavily vested in hydrogen that going down a different path would cost too much.
Japan (and Toyota) placed their bets on a wrong horse, and now that the race is well underway, they are faced with a hard choice. Cut their losses and start anew, or continue down the same path, hoping that something will change the rules of the game in their favor. They unsuccessfully tried to convince other manufacturers to join the hydrogen bandwagon but failed. They hope that a major confrontation between the US and China will spoil lithium trade, but this is unlikely to happed as other countries (for example Mexico) are developing lithium supply.
EVs are far from perfect. But in current state, they are the most attractive option from economic and environmental standpoint. Japanese auto industry is in serious trouble, not only Toyota. Honda sales are abysmal, Nissan isn't doing great either. Consumers want EVs and Toyota has nothing to offer. Even with billions of dollars (trillions of yens), they won't have a competitive lineup of EVs for at least another 5 years. By then, other manufacturers will dominate the market.
EVs are exploding in sales because people like them. Not because big G is forcing them on people, not because Toyota quality has gone down etc. etc.
It is a fact that Toyota does not always dominate the reliability rankings any more. In fact, the automakers who ARE at the top seem to change now with almost every survey taken.
No. It is because the CL moderators don't allow political discussion.
It has nothing to do with fossil fuels or EVs. As with Honda, Toyota is losing market share primarily because they are no longer perceived as having the most reliable vehicles in the industry. For decades, they sold primarily on their reliability image.
I'm not afraid to discuss the politics. US and Europe developed strict emissions standards and goals for reaching certain MPG's. This makes engine development much harder, and to meet these standards companies begin eliminate bigger engines, but some smart people see an opening and decide to rethink battery and electric motor development. Toyota joins that effort for awhile but abondonds it for hybrids and alternative fuels (Hydrogen). As Tesla proves the viability of EV's, companies like Hyundai/Kia, Ford, VW etc also see the potential, they just haven't figured out how to manufacture to scale like Tesla. Meanwhile hybrid owners begin to abandon their hybrids for EV's, thus sales of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, begin to errode. As adoption of EV's grows in Europe and North America, Toyota's new offerings in the market are not met with the excitement they anticipated, in the meantime, Tesla can't build vehicles fast enough.
The second part of your statement just doesn't hold water. Toyota and Lexus are still considered the most reliable ICE vehicles. They continue to be in the top 10. If what you say is true and they don't continue to hold the "reliability" image, than only top Toyota/Lexus management can be blamed for that
