Tesla became the automotive manufacturer of the highest market value in the world by surpassing Toyota last year. Toyota CEO has officially responded to this status, and provided a conclusion that infuses confidence to all investors.
“Tesla said its recipes are the standards for the future, but Toyota has the kitchen and chefs”, said Toyota CEO Toyoda Akio, indicating that Toyota makes real food.
Toyoda had made a public comment on competitors during the conference call today, which is not often seen. Toyota doesn’t seem to want to be forgotten when more and more people believe that Tesla equals the future of automobiles.
Although Tesla is currently celebrating on having produced almost 400K units of vehicles, Toyota, who has produced 100 million units of cars, is not too happy about being trampled by this rising junior. The company has announced during the conference call today that it will achieve a twofold profit by the end of this financial year.
Based on Toyoda’s comment, Tesla’s existing “kitchen” was actually provided by Toyota. Tesla’s current Fremont factory the former NUMMI factory of Toyota, which was sold to Tesla in 2010, and the two parties had even worked together on developing electric vehicles and battery technology.
Tesla is now on the crest of a wave. Despite the 30 times more production volume in automobiles per year compared to Tesla, Toyota has not only been trailing behind Tesla, but also other automotive manufacturers, in the BEV market. Judging by the circulating news, the annual sales of Tesla may approach 2 million by 2025, and Toyota will have approximately 500K units of BEV models then. Volkswagen, another strong competitor, is expected to achieve an annual production volume of 1 million units of BEV models by 2023.
Toyoda is more than blabbering, as he also pointed out that the company has learned that BEV models also generate potential profits, and that he is more impressed in Tesla’s software technology, as well as the planning for other renewable energy products.
Amidst the critical moment of paradigm transition for global automotive manufacturers, the mature HEV technology of Toyota allows the company to achieve the existing threshold of carbon emission from various regions, and there is no need of rapid investment in BEV models compared to European automotive manufacturers. However, as the deadline for the phasing out of fossil fuel vehicles approaches, and that Toyota has yet to transcend from the predicament derived from its fuel cell vehicles, the release of zero emission products from this automotive king will be the focus of the automotive industry for the next 3 years.
（Image：Toyota）