It's a major u-turn but not a pivot.
This is the complex and contradictory message that the future CEO of Toyota TM has just sent.
Koji Sato, 53, who will take the helm at the automotive giant on April 1, on Feb. 13 spoke for the first time since his promotion last month.
Sato's position on electric vehicles is particularly eagerly awaited. Toyota has pursued a strategy that runs against the tide of other car manufacturers -- legacy companies as well as upstarts -- which are mostly betting on battery-powered vehicles.
Under Akio Toyoda, the outgoing CEO and grandson of the founder, Toyota has been reluctant to embrace EVs. The maker of the Camry sedan has taken the opposite bet in the industry by developing hybrid vehicles, like its bestselling Prius model.
It has also pushed for hydrogen-fuel-cell cars.
Lexus Carries Toyota's EV Ambitions
The company's argument has often been that there isn't enough supporting infrastructure -- not enough charging stations -- to support widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Toyota had also justified its approach by noting the high costs and complex investments inherent in the segment, while doubting the potential of EVs within the mass automobile market.
Sato wants to break with this approach. He wants to accelerate the group's development in the electrical segment. According to him, Toyota has had a "communication problem" about its EV strategy so far, something he wants to correct and change.
"We want to listen to customers around the world and offer them various options," but "in this multidirectional approach, 100% electric electric vehicles are also an important option", Sato said during a news conference in Tokyo.
The new boss was introducing his team.
"I think around half of it is a communication issue. We can do better," the future leader said when asked about the reasons for Toyota's "slowness" in the field of EVs. "While making efforts to save energy (via hybrid vehicles), in the medium or long term, we will encourage a switch to electric vehicles."
This big change in strategy will rely on Lexus, Toyota's premium brand, of which Sato was the boss before being promoted to CEO of the entire group. The next generation of Lexus electric cars will be developed by 2026, "optimizing everything from the battery to the platform to how a car is produced, while expanding our current lineup," explained the future CEO.
He promised to detail his EV strategy, including information on the group's future electric platform, after taking office in April.
As Lexus's current leader, Sato oversaw the development of the first electric Lexus, the RZ, which is set to launch this year.
Isn't It a Bit Too Late?
Sato, however, did not want to completely turn the page on his predecessor. He said that the acceleration in the electric segment with Lexus was not a big change of strategy and that Toyota would continue to invest in different less-polluting technologies.
"This is not a fast pivot towards battery EVs," the incoming CEO cautioned.
Toyota is keeping unchanged its goal of selling 3.5 million EVs by 2030, Sato said.
The road to achieving this will be long. Last year, the automotive group's sales in this segment (including hydrogen-powered vehicles) represented just over 28,000 units for its Toyota and Lexus brands.
Toyota's reluctance to get into electric vehicles has allowed disrupters like Tesla to take advantage of the vacuum and establish their dominance.
Ironically, the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., the biggest within Elon Musk's group, was once jointly owned by Toyota and GM (GM). But Toyota sold it to Tesla for just $42 million in a partnership that ended in 2014.
Tesla sold more than 1.31 million vehicles last year and produced 1.37 million.
