Toyota's chairman Akio Toyoda has no doubts. If passenger cars only run on electricity, it will cost 5.5 million jobs in the car industry.
Toyota's chairman Akio Toyoda is not shy about being critical of electric cars. And now he warns again that it will cost millions of Japanese jobs if it is only the electric car that is allowed in the future.
Specifically, Toyoda says that the electric car is not the only solution. But if that happens, 5.5 million jobs in the Japanese car industry and at sub-suppliers alone will be lost.
The Toyota chairman said this at the same time that he unveiled a new bust of his father, Shoichiro Toyoda. At the same time, Akio was told that he prefers petrol to electric cars.
– There are 5.5 million people involved in the car industry in Japan. Among them are those who have been doing engine-related work for a long time.
– If electric cars become the only choice, also for our suppliers, these people's jobs would be lost, says Toyoda according to Reuters .
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For now, Toyota is among the world's biggest car brands that have thrown the fewest money into electric cars. Instead, the Japanese have spent money on e.g. synthetic gasoline, the combustion of hydrogen, and improvements to the internal combustion engine in general.
It is also with Toyota's help that BMW believes it will be able to send a hydrogen car onto the street in 2028. On the other hand, Toyota is investing massively in hybrid cars. Something that seems to work, at the same time that the Japanese have adjusted down the targets for how many electric cars the brand will build at all. Read more about it here.
The latest news is that, after a 15-year absence, Toyota is officially part of Formula 1 again. In fact, the brand is already visible on Danish Kevin Magnussen's racing car, as a so-called 'technical partnership with Haas F1' has been entered into.
Eventually, Toyota will take over the development of Haas' chassis. Like the agreement with the American Formula 1 team, the Japanese will be able to get several of its own racing drivers behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car for testing purposes.
Read more exciting news from and about the world of cars right here!
