With its first leadership change in about 14 years, Toyota will accelerate its electrification efforts by launching a new special unit to develop next-generation battery electric vehicles, the company said Friday.
Amid intensifying global EV competition, Toyota’s new management team also said the world’s largest automaker aims to roll out 10 new battery EV models by 2026 and ramp up sales to 1.5 million that year, compared with about 24,000 worldwide last year.
“We will be drastically changing the structure of the vehicle and manufacturing process for the next-generation EV. It’s the new world of battery EV,” said Hiroki Nakajima, executive vice president at Toyota, during a news conference in Tokyo.