Why did Toyota hold a shocking briefing on the battery EV strategy?

Lexus showed a super sport with a view to the installation of a cruising range of 700 km, over 700 km in the rising range of 0 to 100 km/h acceleration.

What was the impression of motor journalist Tatsuya Otani, who heard the "Battery EV Strategy Briefing Session" held by Toyota Motor (hereinafter referred to as Toyota) on December 14?[See photos] Check out a sports car reminiscent of MR2 of 16 new models announced by Toyota!

Concept car lined up

I was surprised to be honest. That's my impression of Toyota's presentation on December 14th. Why were you surprised? On the day, Akio Toyoda, President Mizuwa Toyoda, was on stage, and was in charge of most of the presentation, but at the same time, a total of 16 BEVs (battery -style electric vehicles) were lined up behind President Akio. It was in that it was. Of these, the "BZ4X" scheduled to be released in 2022 would be close to the mass -produced model, but all other than that would have been a prototype. Usually, producing such a prototype costs 100 million yen units. Since 15 units were arranged, simply calculated it cost 1.5 billion yen or 2 billion yen. However, some of them seemed to have been produced before this presentation, but even so, considering that there are only one or two prototypes announced in one motor show, it is so labor -and -time for one presentation. It can be said that the cost is unusual.

Think about the reasons for the event

So why did Toyota implement such a great EV presentation? The biggest reason was to correct the misunderstanding of the EVs. "Selling one million EVs by 2030 by 2030" and "EVs are all EVs by 2035", and more automakers are making such a powerful presentation. The reason why the future is difficult to predict is so clearly declaring that it has a greater impact on society and helps to strengthen the image of being actively working on environmental issues. Toyota has stubbornly refused these announcements. Behind this is the idea of ​​"leaving a lot of technical options is a shortcut to realizing carbon nuits quickly and without difficulty", and the social is "ensuring employment by leaving room for the engine production." It was a sense of responsibility. My own way of thinking is close to this, but this idea seems to be hard to be accepted by the world. In particular, in Europe and the United States, where clear messages are required, Toyota is often accepted as "carbon neutral and waist", which seems to have been a factor in stock prices, for example, and struggles at sales sites. It seems that this presentation was the presentation that President Shoo, who boiled the business in such a situation, mobilized the stories that could be announced and gave society as large as possible.