Toyota

Love it or hate it, Toyota seems to be moving forward with its plan to add a manual transmission simulation to its electric cars, complete with engine revving noise and lots of jerky feels. A new patent application shows a system with up to 14 pseudo gears to enhance the zero-emissions driving experience and maybe convert some manual-loving drivers over to the EV side.

Toyota unveiled its slick electric Sport Crossover concept for the first time in Europe on Monday. The new fastback EV, made with China’s BYD, will launch in 2025.

Cheaper EVs are on the way. Toyota’s new Urban electric SUV Concept will challenge the affordable Volvo EX30 as the brand’s cheapest EV yet.

The 2024 Toyota bZ4X will cost slightly more than the previous model. To sweeten the deal, Toyota is already offering a special financing rate.

Toyota is securing substantial funding as it looks to catch up in the EV race. Sources close to the matter say Toyota and its affiliates will sell a stake of around $4.7B in Denso, the second-largest global auto supplier.

Toyota is still continuing its old ways of greenwashing and opposing electric vehicles, despite a change in CEO earlier this year from anti-EV stalwart Akio Toyoda to former Lexus chief Koji Sato, who had promised a more EV-friendly approach.

After unveiling plans for breakthrough solid-state EV batteries, promising unrealistic long-range capabilities, it seems Toyota’s tech will be in short supply.

As the president of Toyota’s new BEV factory, which launched in May, Takero Kato has a big weight on his shoulders. In a recent interview, Kato explained how the brand’s first electric sedan, a collaboration with BYD, will help with its next-gen EVs.

Today, Toyota and leading recycling specialist Redwood Materials announced a new expansion that brings the messy and complicated global supply chain of battery components one step closer to a circular battery ecosystem, all on American soil.

Hot on the heels of the United Auto Workers’ strike victory against the “Big Three” US automakers, President Joe Biden said he would support UAW’s push to unionize Tesla and Toyota ahead of a planned meeting with UAW president Shawn Fain.

Toyota is losing out as the world’s largest auto market accelerates its shift to EVs. The Japanese automaker informed dealers that it plans to cut production in China with one of its joint ventures.

It looks like Ram has taken a page from Toyota’s playbook on how to spin a hybrid into a “class-shattering battery electric vehicle” that gets “unlimited range”: just make stuff up. Ram, owned by Stellantis, insists that we not call its new Ramcharger 1500 pickup a hybrid when it in fact houses a 27-gallon gas tank between the battery and the rear axle. So yeah, it’s clearly a hybrid.

As Chinese automakers like BYD steal Toyota’s limelight in Thailand, the automaker is planning a counteroffensive. Toyota is set to test a new electric pickup to fend off the incoming competition.

EV sales continue to rise steadily in California, reaching a record 22.3% market share in Q3. But Tesla has returned to its position as second-best selling overall car brand in the state, behind longtime leader Toyota, after briefly eclipsing the brand last quarter.

Although Toyota expects record growth this fiscal year, it’s cutting its EV sales forecast by nearly 40%. In Toyota’s latest questionable strategy shift, the company will lean into hybrids to “avoid the price competition” in the EV market.

Despite recent EV delays from leading US automakers, Toyota is surprisingly charging ahead. Toyota is investing an additional $8 billion in its North Carolina EV battery plant. The new funding will add roughly 3,000 jobs as Toyota looks to accelerate its EV offensive.

Things are getting heated Down Under as a Toyota executive’s recent anti-EV comments in Australia are being challenged by industry leaders, including Tesla. According to the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia, the comments come as the automaker is losing market share over its own hesitancy to go electric.

Toyota showed off an electric Ford Maverick-sized truck concept at the Japan Mobility Show this week. Is the Toyota EPU, or Electric PickUp, the midsize electric pickup we’ve been waiting for?

Speaking at the global reveal of the updated 2024 bZ4X, a Toyota executive claimed electric vehicles don’t make sense in countries like Australia. Meanwhile, as the bestselling EV in the region, Tesla’s Model Y is proving that idea wrong.

China’s largest EV maker, BYD, is quickly making a name for itself in overseas markets. Despite recently entering the Thai auto market, BYD has already surpassed several Japanese rivals in sales as it sneaks up on Toyota’s spotlight.

Toyota is on a roll with EV concepts at this year’s Japan Mobility Show, and the latest has to be among the highest on its customer request list: an electrified Land Cruiser SUV. The Land Cruiser Se concept is as straightforward a look into what a BEV version of the iconic off-roader might look like as Toyota has ever given, and it’s nice!