Toyota President Akio Toyoda has a vision for the Japanese automobile industry in the 21st century. The problem? It’s looking backward at the last century rather than a low-carbon, electrical vehicle future that Toyota’s competitors are embracing.
He has dismissed any role for Toyota to lead on the innovations toward a new generation of clean, electrical-powered vehicles. Instead, Toyoda’s adamant that Japan’s largest automaker’s sole nod toward carbon emission reduction remains its line of gas-electric hybrid vehicles line, which debuted in 1997.
Toyoda’s 20/20 hindsight blinds him to growing consumer preference for zero-emission vehicles and the looming bans on emissions-producing vehicles in major markets including the United Kingdom and California. But it’s emblematic of the failure of the Japanese government and its industrial sector to take decisive action to capitalize on the commercial opportunities and climate imperatives of a new industrial revolution that decarbonizes the country’s production processes.