With multiple car companies (Audi, Jaguar, Kia, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz) jumping into the EV market with their own fully electric vehicles, why are Toyota and Lexus so late to adopt EV technology and come out with their own all-electric vehicle?

 

Complacency and lack of leadership. Toyota sales are strong customer loyalty is high reliability is still the best in the industry. Easy to sit on your hands and watch the money roll in

 

The interesting thing is that Toyota was one of the first to develop an EV vehicle (RAV4 EV) back in 1997 with Tesla, but then they would not make any additional EV vehicles and decided to go with the hybrid and hydrogen cell vehicles instead. Everyone knows that hybrids are just a stop gap to full electric vehicles, but Toyota was ahead of the pack more than 20 years ago!! Definitely disappointing from Toyota!!

 

I think some of it is because the Homeland, Japan, is insisting on Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Japan does not want to be dependent on Electrical generating power plants like the nuclear one the blew up.

 

Toyota has EV tech. They are not without. They had EV RAV4 models before. The Mirai is an EV, it just powered by hydrogen. Toyota also has EV tech across many other industries such as forklifts and power jacks.

But, this thread seems more like a why does Lexus not have a EV Tesla competitor?

Making money ie profit is the #1 reason why Then, the masses are not yet ready to adopt EV cars to the point of making lots of money. EVs account for like 1-2% of worldwide sales, but the future is of course EV models, but gas is still a long, long way from being extinct.

Toyota has accelerated their EV stuff, should be coming shortly. A Toyota CHR EV is coming for China.

 

Then why didn't Toyota wait until hybrids were popular before making cars like the Prius?

 

Most likely lack of demand aside from a few people on sites. There is almost no real demand for electric cars, especially luxury cars outside of Tesla and Tesla is more about image then the actual car, same with the Prius.

Look how poorly Lexus hybrids have done or hybrid luxury cars all together, again, there was almost no demand for hybrid Lexus vehicles yet they built several, they all have been sales failures aside from some moderate sales from the RX hybrid, 2 models were cancelled after a short time on the market. The cost to develop those vehicles was very expensive and losses painful so it is doubtful they are in any real hurry to offer electrics that will likely fail just because a couple people want them.

 

Obviously it is just my opinion. Fuel efficiency and smaller car designs were something Toyota has always been great at. When Toyota entered the hybrid area, Toyota was growing with double digit market share increases. Their competition at the time GM, Ford were all doubled down with large trucks and SUVs. The auto sector also exploded with growth in the 90s and pre recession 2008. Contrast to today, the car industry is shrinking, worldwide and in the US. EVs for Toyota would be a transformation and transition from the classic way Toyota has operated, so they need to get it right, before they roll out with EVs. Most car buyers in the US will not pay extra for a EV if there is a gas version available, paying extra for stuff in the US is not something people like to do, Toyota has to figure out how to proceed with EVs.

 

image or not, tesla 3 was 3rd best selling sedan in uk recently.
tesla has 5.5% of california new car market.
in norway where they gave big incentives EVs have been 50% of new car sales but that’s a tiny market.
there is certainly demand, but it’s far from uniform and still a tiny part of the market overall, but it’s growing.
obviously mercedes and vw/audi/porsche are making a lot of noise and new models and germany seems very serious about getting away from ICE vehicles.

That’s in the US. Elsewhere the hybrids are pretty much all they sell.

 

Relatively, toyota probably thought hybrids were less of a gamble than EVs because hybrids didn’t need a whole charging infrastructure.

But no doubt Toyota is working on EVs while continuing to rake in money from ICE vehicles.

 

It's not about image. Have you driven a Tesla? It's powertrain is simply far better than anything I've ever experienced. It might not be for everybody but those who drive it understand that it's performance is simply INCREDIBLE.

 

Lexus hybrids have done poorly b/c Lexus has focused more on making performance-oriented hybrids instead of focusing on gas mileage. Most consumers care more about saving gas than how fast their hybrid can go from 0-60. Another mistake by Toyota.

 

. I could be wrong. But, this feels like a new anti-Toyota troll thread

 

Agreed, however Toyota's first mover advantage allowed them to become THE hybrid company the longer they wait the more Toyota risks being just another EV maker.

 

It helped that everyone basically bailed on hybrids as well

Look at Hyundia and KIA EVs, how are they doing in the US? kinda meh