Toyota

After a slow start, Toyota is looking to shake things up with its next round of electric cars. Toyota’s second best-selling SUV in the US, the Toyota Highlander, is going fully electric. It could be followed by other familiar names like the Tacoma and Tundra.

Tesla maintains an 87% brand retention rate, with Lexus (68%) and Toyota (54%) trailing, according to a new Bloomberg Intelligence survey.

Toyota has made its fully electric 2024 bZ4X – which only just landed on dealers’ lots – available to lease with a $10,000 discount.

Toyota’s EV sales were up 9% in the first three months of 2024, but only 1,897 Toyota electric vehicles were handed over in the US. That’s only a fraction of Toyota’s over 486,000 total Q1 US sales.

An all-electric Toyota pickup may be closer than expected. According to the company’s Thailand president, Toyota will launch an electric Hilux pickup by the end of 2025. The move comes after Japanese rival Isuzu is set to reveal its first 100% electric truck later this month.

A new Japanese all-electric EV pickup is set to hit global markets, and it’s not a Toyota. Isuzu will unveil its first 100% electric pickup truck, the D-MAX BEV, later this month. The rugged-looking 4X4 EV will compete with Ford’s F-150 Lightning in overseas markets.

Can Kia challenge Toyota, which has dominated the market in Thailand, with affordable EVs? Chinese automakers like BYD are already stealing market share, but Kia is in talks over a new EV plant in Thailand that could help position itself as an early leader.

Toyota is boosting its ability to mass-produce “a wide variety” of EV batteries following an agreement with Panasonic to take full control of Primearth EV Energy (PEVE). The move will help Toyota respond to the growing demand for batteries.

The CEO of Toyota isn’t mincing words, saying that he believes EVs will only make up 30% of the US new-vehicle market in 2030, half of the target the EPA sought last year. As the car industry’s largest hybrid pusher, Toyota says it is better positioned to just buy credits to close the EPA gap rather than “waste” money on BEVs, its CEO said.

After an 18-month delay, Toyota finally launched its first electric car, the bZ4X, in Australia. Toyota looks to defend its title as the best-selling car brand in the country as EV leaders like Tesla are gaining market share.

Is Toyota gearing up to launch an electric pickup in the US? The Japanese automaker is currently benchmarking the Tesla Cybertruck and Ford F-150 Lightning, suggesting one could be in the works.

Imagine getting out of your car to toss trash and returning to find it rolling into the ocean. A Toyota bZ4X drove itself off a pier and crashed into the ocean just north of Boston after the driver forgot to put the EV in park Wednesday.

Toyota just announced a $1.3 billion investment in its Kentucky factory to build EVs, including its three-row electric SUV for the US market. 

Although Toyota held its title as the top-selling automaker, the industry is shifting beneath it. Toyota sold over 100,000 EVs in 2023, but that’s still less than 1% of the record 11.2 million vehicles handed over last year.

2023 was yet another pivotal year for EVs as the segment began to expand beyond early adopters and into the early majority. What should come as no surprise to most people is that American automaker Tesla dominated Google Trends search data for EVs last year. Still, gas and hybrid specialist Toyota remained the most searched auto brand, not by any specific state.

Longtime Toyota CEO and chairman Akio Toyoda believes EVs will only reach 30% market share at most. The comments come despite several auto markets, like Norway and Sweden, already well past that.

Toyota wants to bring the Land Cruiser brand into the electric future with two new EVs. The company is reportedly gearing up to electrify the Toyota Land Cruiser with its own brand.

“Toyota” announced a new eco-conscious AI copilot at the DC Auto Show yesterday, which promises to reduce environmental impact by up to 10% – but it turns out the whole thing was a prank, and the prank makes a real point about Toyota’s tendency towards greenwashing.

If you were waiting for a smaller, cheaper Toyota electric car, you may have to keep waiting. Toyota has no current plans to launch a cheap EV despite demand building.

Toyota confirmed plans to launch solid-state EV batteries with 10-minute fast charging and up to 750 miles (1,200 km) WLTP range to close the gap with Tesla. However, with the new EV battery tech still a few years out, Toyota could fall further behind.

Toyota gave the bZ4X an update for the 2024 model year. With new features and tech, Toyota looks to keep up with the competition.