Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley has reiterated the automaker’s belief that electric vehicles aren’t the only way to reduce emissions.
Soon after Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda said that a variety of powertrains are needed to cut carbon around the world, include EVs, hybrids, hydrogen vehicles, and ICEs, Hanley hit out at electric car extremists while speaking with Australian media at the launch of the Corolla Cross Hybrid.
“Toyota is not opposed to battery-electric vehicles,” Hanley said when asked about Toyota’s stance on EVs, Drive reports. “We believe that to get to carbon neutrality, you have to take everyone on the journey. You have to have a solution for the market you’re operating in. In the market we operate in, we believe right now that the solution is a diversity of products and powertrains (engines). We’ll have battery-electric vehicles for some customers who’ll want that in town, we’ll have hybrid-electric vehicles, fuel-cell electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.”
Hanley added that every Toyota, except for its GR performance cars, will have some form of electrification by 2030, adding that “carbon is the enemy here, not the powertrain.”
Read Also: Toyota Has No Plans To Change Its Strategy On Electrified Vehicles
“We are in full support of some mandated type of legislation around (emissions reductions). The one thing everybody agrees with … is we have to get to a carbon-neutral position,” he added. “Toyota is not arguing the toss on that. That’s not a debate. Even with the most extreme viewpoint, we agree you’ve got to get to carbon neutral. What we’re disagreeing on is … how and when you get there.”
The senior Toyota employee added that Toyota helped pave the way for reducing carbon emissions in the industry with the Australian launch of the Prius in 2001. He added that 30 per cent of Toyota’s current sales come from hybrid vehicles, which plays an important role in lowering its overall emissions.
“The point I’m trying to make here is: what aren’t you seeing that I’m seeing? Toyota is not stopping, lagging, or preventing (electric cars),” he added.
He added that the 300,000 hybrid vehicles it has sold in Australia have contributed to the same emissions reductions as introducing approximately 90,000 EVs would have. “The 300,000 hybrids we’ve sold so far are equivalent to the CO2-reduction effect of introducing approximately 90,000 (electric vehicles) to the market,” said Hanley.
