Toyota production falls for the first time in four years. However, the brand still refuses to build only electric cars. They do not get a market share greater than 30 percent, says the boss.
A changing market and increased competition from electric car manufacturers, especially in China, are challenging the world's largest car manufacturer, Toyota.
The Japanese experienced a decline in production. Several analysts point out, according to the Norwegian news agency NBT, that the decline is due to Toyota's slower conversion to the electric car market.
In the first half of Toyota's fiscal year (which runs from April to September), the company built 4.71 million cars.
This is a decrease from 5.06 million cars in the same period last year. Something that marks a rare production drop for Toyota.
Production in Japan, Toyota's home market, fell 9.4 percent, due both to delays in production of two popular models — the Yaris Cross and Corolla Fielder — and a recall of a certain Prius model.
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The economic situation in China, the world's largest car market, also plays a significant role in Toyota's declining production.
Here, Toyota experienced a significant drop of 17 percent in sales, affected by a rapidly growing market for electric cars, where local manufacturers in China are introducing cheap electric car models at an ever faster pace. In comparison, Toyota only has one electric car on the program.
In contrast to the decline in Asia, however, Toyota has had moderate progress in Europe, where production increased by 3.2 percent in the same period. The European market thus constitutes a certain stability for the car brand. Although the growth here is not sufficient to offset the major declines in the Asian markets.
Toyota has set a goal of reaching one million electric cars sold by 2026. A significant downgrade from the original goal of building one and a half million electric cars within the same time frame.
However, Toyota still insists that electric cars will never account for more than 30 percent of the global market. The Japanese therefore also work with several technologies. Blue. the combustion of hydrogen in both trucks and cars. With Toyota's help, BMW also believes that the brand can send a hydrogen car on the street in no time. Read more about it here .
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