[sri_tesla]

Toyota Motor Corp. made Lexus President Koji Sato chief executive officer, replacing the long-serving Akio Toyoda as the the world’s biggest carmaker navigates the auto industry’s once-in-a-generation shift toward electrification and greater automation.

Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese car giant’s founder, become’s chairman effective April 1, the company said in a statement Thursday. He became CEO more than a decade ago and oversaw Toyota’s rise to become the world’s No. 1 maker of cars.

Sato, 53, takes on leadership of Toyota at a watershed moment. The carmaker is facing criticism for its reluctance to plow headlong into electric vehicles, instead spreading its bets across various technologies such as battery-based EVs, hybrid technology, hydrogen-powered cars and traditional combustion vehicles.

Source:
https://www.livemint.com/companies/p...722446565.html

[volkman10]

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today announced its new executive structure, which will take effect on 1-April 2023.



Koji Sato


Akio Toyoda, Koji Sato, Takeshi Uchiyamada



The biggest change will be Akio ‘Morizo’ Toyoda stepping down from his current role as President and CEO. He will hand over the mantle of leadership at Toyota to his right-hand man Koji Sato, who is currently the Operating Officer and Chief Branding Officer. He is also the President of both Lexus International and Gazoo Racing Company.

Sato, who is best known as the executive chief engineer behind the Lexus LC, a pet project of Akio Toyoda, will now take over Akio Toyoda’s duties as Operating Officer, President, and CEO.

Akio Toyoda will take over the Chairman role currently held by Takeshi Uchiyamada, who together with engineer Satoshi Ogiso, created the original Toyota Prius. Uchiyamada’s work lead to the popularization of hybrids around the world.

Akio Toyoda is also the Chairman of JAMA, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, a role that he has served for 3 terms, and will run until by May 2024.

Akio is basically Captain Japan leading Japan’s automotive equivalent of the Avengers, and he has an uphill battle to convince policy makers around the world to adopt a multi-pathway strategy to achieve carbon neutrality.

Source: Toyota

[SKC-auto]

Good, hope this will lead Toyota become a large EV company. I was worried Akio would one day push Toyota to bankruptcy.

Hope it's not a "cloistered rule".

One Toyota executive, who asked not to be identified, said the automaker was headed for a period of "cloistered rule," referring to the period in Japan's history when a retired emperor continued to call the shots.

[su1978]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Good, hope this will lead Toyota become a large EV company. I was worried Akio would one day push Toyota to bankruptcy.

Hope it's not a "cloistered rule".

This is entirely my personal opinion but the world seems fascinated with EV's. Somehow in my opinion, pure EV's are never a viable option. Perhaps that is the reason Ford is pushing for some genset alongside its F150 range of trucks. I do lots of highway drives(500+ kilometers in one stretch) and not even once did i come across an EV on the highway. The stretch includes NH-44, Taj expressway, Agra Lucknow expressway, Delhi-Jaipur highway among others. Yes, even if they are seen, its for some very short distance. These EV's are fit just for street driving. Add to that the exorbitant pricing. Also have gone through some travelogues on this forum and have found members to be covering the same stretch in 3 days which is doable in 24 hours. World over, perhaps pure EV's are not even considered an option in mass market. Proper hybrids are the only option that give you the flexibility.

Coming back to topic, Toyota also has the option of strong and good hybrids in its portfolio. Just that we do not see more products in India due to vested interests and some lobbying by other OEM's. Probably that the decision making would be taking extra long time that the leadership change was required at the top.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by su1978

Perhaps that is the reason Ford is pushing for some genset alongside its F150 range of trucks.

Source? From what I read more work trucks are bought because the work tools can be powered easily.

I do lots of highway drives(500+ kilometers in one stretch) and not even once did i come across an EV on the highway. The stretch includes NH-44, Taj expressway, Agra Lucknow expressway, Delhi-Jaipur highway among others. Yes, even if they are seen, its for some very short distance. These EV's are fit just for street driving. Add to that the exorbitant pricing.

Maybe it's not for you yet, how many people do you think drive for 500km+ or even 300km+ without a break, my guess is less than 5%. Let the 5% wait for few more years, 95% should be fine with today's EVs offcourse we need better infra.

Also have gone through some travelogues on this forum and have found members to be covering the same stretch in 3 days which is doable in 24 hours. World over, perhaps pure EV's are not even considered an option in mass market. Proper hybrids are the only option that give you the flexibility.

Rome is not built in a day, let the infra be built to the levels of fuelling stations, there will be no range anxiety.

Coming back to topic, Toyota also has the option of strong and good hybrids in its portfolio. Just that we do not see more products in India due to vested interests and some lobbying by other OEM's. Probably that the decision making would be taking extra long time that the leadership change was required at the top.

This leadership change is at global level, Akio was insisting on Self charging Hybrids, FCEV, H2ICE cars, Toyota under him lobbied against EVs, today I consider him to accepting to his mistake. He is either being pushed aside by the share holders or retiring to save Toyota.

Whether we like it or not EVs are the only way to go for land transport, the battery tech may change, the motor tech may change, there will be EVs of all ranges from 100km-1000km range EVs. Unless we realize this fact, we can keep discussing about EV range anxiety and their market share keeps increasing every year by 50%.

[AutoDowntowner]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Good, hope this will lead Toyota become a large EV company. I was worried Akio would one day push Toyota to bankruptcy.

Hope it's not a "cloistered rule".

This man took charge during global recession (2008-09)and here is when the American realized the power of Toyota vehicles. They are equally good in quality, drivability as an American brand but they were much more fuel efficient in those days. In those days I was closely working with Americans hence I would hear a lot from them about Toyota. After that this brand became unstoppable & now it is World's number One.
I am surprised to see you think that Akio would push Toyota to bankruptcy.
Now I am here in Detroit & I realized that Toyota's job lay offs are negligible (or zero) compared to all other American brands here. Because they are sure about their products, their future. Toyota is having highest resale value in US too.
Akio surely knows that the EV is just a phase and not the true future.
Only the time will prove this, for sure.
Personally I will prefer to buy a full hybrid car over an EV.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by AutoDowntowner

Akio surely knows that the EV is just a phase and not the true future.
Only the time will prove this, for sure.
Personally I will prefer to buy a full hybrid car over an EV.

The bosses at Nokia, Kodak, Blockbuster to know about their businesses, only problem is they failed to change in time. Toyota is a great company, but past performances does not guarantee future survival. Sure, let's wait and see.

[NT_GT]

I still like the technology that Toyota was trying to develop - the hydrogen fuel cell. It has amazing potentials and solves many problems in one go.

I used to be an EV fan (3-4 years ago), but I concluded that this technology is just a band-aid. IMHO, the main long-term problem(s) with EV is not range but weight and battery recycling. Weight is currently being attempted to tackle by using structurally battery, lighter batteries, etc. etc.. but none of these approaches seems too promising. Now, the bigger problem - recycling of battery. All EV companies are doing only lip-service on this impending gargantuan problem. Let's see when Tata's 35k+ EVs are 10 years old

Way off-topic but we really need a clean primary source of energy. There has been a lot of noise recently on controlled fusion.
Hoping fusion technology works out in the next 10 years

[Livnletcarsliv]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Maybe it's not for you yet, how many people do you think drive for 500km+ or even 300km+ without a break, my guess is less than 5%. Let the 5% wait for few more years, 95% should be fine with today's EVs offcourse we need better infra.

This is OT - A simple scenario - On a long drive of say 500-600kms, how many hotels do we choose to eat - We don't stop at a random hotel - We want good food and we choose the right hotel/restaurant. During peak hours/festival seasons/long holidays/holiday seasons, just imagine the rush at that particular restaurant. Only two options here - either you wait for your turn to get a table to eat or you skip this and drive ahead for the next (good) restaurant. You can also even munch some light snacks till then.

Now, just imagine this same situation with an EV. You cannot drive ahead for the next charging station because you don't have enough range left. Even with the current number of EV's on road, the charging infra and capacity during peak hours in not enough. If you put 10x or 20x times the EV's on road in say 2-4years, where is the charging infra, power production, for the same?

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

This leadership change is at global level, Akio was insisting on Self charging Hybrids, FCEV, H2ICE cars, Toyota under him lobbied against EVs, today I consider him to accepting to his mistake. He is either being pushed aside by the share holders or retiring to save Toyota.

Leadership change happens in any corporate in any part of world anytime - eg Tata, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW, GM, Nissan, etc. Are you saying that all those predecessor's made mistakes?
So far, Toyota was and is a leader in the automotive world. No brand/board/company will want to relinquish and concede the throne to a competitor. Of course, new ideas and innovation are must for any organization/individual to sustain in the long term.

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Whether we like it or not EVs are the only way to go for land transport, the battery tech may change, the motor tech may change, there will be EVs of all ranges from 100km-1000km range EVs. Unless we realize this fact, we can keep discussing about EV range anxiety and their market share keeps increasing every year by 50%.

Again OT - EVs cannot and will not be the only mode for any transport (with exceptions) at least until there is a revolutionary change in the battery tech, charging tech, E-waste disposal process. Range anxiety is just one part of the problems. EVs (across the word), will slow down in sales. This 50% growth is misnomer - 10 EVs sold this year and 15 EVs sold next year is still a 50% growth.

Let's not deviate from the topic.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by su1978

This is entirely my personal opinion but the world seems fascinated with EV's. Somehow in my opinion, pure EV's are never a viable
option.

In 2022 in Europe, 17.3% of all vehicles sales were BEV's. In China, the number is closer to 25%. You think its mere fascination?

Originally Posted by su1978

Perhaps that is the reason Ford is pushing for some genset alongside its F150 range of trucks.

This sounds like pure conjecture. Can you point me to the source of this news about Ford pushing for gensets with F150's?

Originally Posted by su1978

I do lots of highway drives(500+ kilometers in one stretch) and not even once did i come across an EV on the highway. The stretch includes NH-44, Taj expressway, Agra Lucknow expressway, Delhi-Jaipur highway among others. Yes, even if they are seen, its for some very short distance. These EV's are fit just for street driving.

Unfortunately the world does not revolve around India whether we like it or not. Long distance EV driving is not as big a concern in most big and mature automobile markets across the world. Advances in battery technology, fast charging and the charging networks themselves are rapidly increasing (true to some extent in India as well) to further reduce the barrier to adoption because we have already reached an inflection point.

If all the major automobile manufacturers move to EV's, India will have no option but to move to EV's as well unless we want to continue to keep importing expensive oil and drive outdated tech.

As for driving 500 kms at a stretch, even in Australia where we average close to 90-95 kmph on highway, 500 kms would mean more than 5.5 hours of continuous driving, a hard act to follow for most drivers if not all. In India with our average speeds being lower, its more like 7-8 hours of continuous driving, again a very low percentage of drivers would actually do that and i dont think EV adoption is going to stop because of these drivers - they wont have a choice. With proliferation of fast charging a pee break with coffee is all one needs to charge enough.

Originally Posted by su1978

Coming back to topic, Toyota also has the option of strong and good hybrids in its portfolio. Just that we do not see more products in India due to vested interests and some lobbying by other OEM's. Probably that the decision making would be taking extra long time that the leadership change was required at the top.

I dont think change in leadership at Toyota has got anything to do with Indian market what so ever and its everything to do with shareholder pressure and the pressure by the market on Toyota for not producing competent EV's. If VW, Hyundai/Kia can do it without halting their ICE operations, surely Toyota can too.

Originally Posted by NT_GT

I still like the technology that Toyota was trying to develop - the hydrogen fuel cell. It has amazing potentials and solves many problems in one go.

Except hydrogen requires significant energy to produce and therefore not green enough defeating the whole purpose of going electric. Second, hydrogen storage and transport is hard and expensive as well. With EV's every house is a fuel station - how can you beat that?

Originally Posted by NT_GT

I used to be an EV fan (3-4 years ago), but I concluded that this technology is just a band-aid. IMHO, the main long-term problem(s) with EV is not range but weight and battery recycling. Weight is currently being attempted to tackle by using structurally battery, lighter batteries, etc. etc.. but none of these approaches seems too promising. Now, the bigger problem - recycling of battery. All EV companies are doing only lip-service on this impending gargantuan problem. Let's see when Tata's 35k+ EVs are 10 years old

Model Y is longer than a BMW X3 and weighs slightly more if you compare the base model and weighs less if you factor in the top end BMW X3, not to mention Model Y its much safer both active and passive. I dont think battery recycling is a concern at all given they can be recycle more than 90% and contain expensive rare earth metals. If it is not solved right now, soon it will be, we have enough impetus to do exactly that. Inafct there are a number of start ups in US which are working on exactly this and with success.

As the India market matures, organically or by force, we will learn to do that too. What I am saying is that we wont just throw away batteries in a land fill. Its too precious a resource.

You also have to keep in mind the average commute distance in a year for a car in India. Taking example of Australia, the average yearly distance covered by a car is approx 15000 kms. In 10 years an electric car with average running would have done just 150k kms. Tesla's last twice that with less than 10% degradation.

Originally Posted by NT_GT

Way off-topic but we really need a clean primary source of energy. There has been a lot of noise recently on controlled fusion.
Hoping fusion technology works out in the next 10 years

We still wont have a fusion powered car, atleast not in this decade.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by Livnletcarsliv

Leadership change happens in any corporate in any part of world anytime - eg Tata, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW, GM, Nissan, etc. Are you saying that all those predecessor's made mistakes?
So far, Toyota was and is a leader in the automotive world. No brand/board/company will want to relinquish and concede the throne to a competitor. Of course, new ideas and innovation are must for any organization/individual to sustain in the long term.

Let's not deviate from the topic.

I don't know why you deviated from the topic and asking others not to do the same, anyways I will not deviate from the topic as requested.

I guess no leadership changes happen with below statements. As stated above, I consider this as a defeat of his previous philosophy, also there was lot of pressure from the investors. Why should we give him a pass when he made large statements and resigning now, is that not failure.

"I thought the best way to further Toyota's transformation would be for me to become chairman in support of a new president, and this has led to today's decision. Chairman Uchiyamada has long supported me in all imaginable ways," Toyoda said in a translated webcast.

[su1978]

Without offending the EV fanboys, would beg to differ here. First of all, let us talk in context to India. We can talk about the world later on. Let us take the example of CNG powered cars. Till date i have not seen one single CNG filling station without a queue in Delhi/NCR. It is worse in upcountry locations with queues extending upto almost a kilometer. That too when vehicles with duel-fuel options are being sold for last 25 years or so. It has not yet gained universal acceptability in our country. Those preferring it are the ones who do lots of city driving. In same way, majority of EV buyers will be the ones who will only be using it to do city errands. Add to that the fact the cost of replacing the battery, which would be approximately 40% the cost of vehicle. Request to kindly go through the link below for more information.
https://m.economictimes.com/industry...w/97110458.cms

As some member pointed out, EV's are just a band-aid that we are trying to use. Pure hybrids are the future. As far as Toyota is concerned, they might have their internal reasons to change. Do not want to get into that debate. And going by the trends in India, seems in the long run, Maruti, Tata & Mahindra would hold 95% of market share and rest all manufacturers would be confirmed to 5%(would be happy to be proved wrong).

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by su1978

Without offending the EV fanboys, would beg to differ here. First of all, let us talk in context to India. We can talk about the world later on. Let us take the example of CNG powered cars. Till date i have not seen one single CNG filling station without a queue in Delhi/NCR. It is worse in upcountry locations with queues extending upto almost a kilometer.

I am not offended for calling me an EV fanboy. You did not tell us about the genset with F150.

I don't know if you have wilfully ignored the biggest difference between CNG and EV. EVs can be charged at home, there are millions of plug points already ready even in India, the infra is only needed for fast charging. CNG cars can only be filled from a pump.

When EU, NA, China, Aus and south east Asian countries move to EVs, nobody makes petrol engines only for India, the ICE engine development has already stopped, you are stuck with same engines for next 10-20years even if they survive BS7 emission norms.

[androdev]

It’s very simple really. If you have no prior investment or expertise in ICE tech and start a EV company, you can bet all your money on EV tech and evangelise all the wonderful things about EV. You have nothing to lose and have everything to gain by making it look as if Lithium based EV is the final frontier of drivetrain technology.

Companies with legacy baggage have to think much more and weigh their options and timing more cautiously. If some huge disruption takes place - you never know - and Lithium based EVs become a small footnote in the evolution of drivetrain technology, you would have squandered all that you built over the years. It’s perfectly acceptable to allow Teslas and Olas of the world to do their thing and let the market be developed. Maybe some ICE companies will shut shop but such companies would shut shop even if they embrace EV tech today. My theory is that companies like Toyota are very confident that they can build/buy/license the necessary technology when the right time comes. To them, this is a transition period and they don’t need to commit prematurely and risk their existing business model.

Take Nexon EV for example. TATA has very little IP or in-house expertise. They are sourcing stuff and using the TATA brand and general automobile expertise they have to make a successful offering. Companies like Toyota etc can do much better and at the required scale and quality.

If one of the advocates of Tesla is made the CEO of Toyota and that guy decides to commit 100% to current Lithium based EV tech and close down all other ICE divisions, just imagine how ridiculous that would be!

[NT_GT]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

...We still wont have a fusion powered car, atleast not in this decade.

Hydrogen is safe. In the commercially available Toyota Mirai (my dream car), it is stored in tanks. Safer than CNG or Li-ion battery. There is one video where engineers shot a filled hydrogen tank with a rifle, nothing happened. Try that in a CNG tank or a big Li-ion battery pack, the result would be very different.

Let me say this much that there is no point in speculating the far future. Whichever tech becomes mainstream let's hope that it keeps us users engaged and involved, not turning humans into beings which can't even walk like in the movie `Wall-E'.

When I mentioned fusion, it is as a primary source of energy - not some small engine that you can strap to a car frame and power it. IMHO, wind or solar or hydro or all of them combined cannot power the whole world. They are not cheap, they are just band-aids