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Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr
Toyota could make as many EVs as it would either want or be mandated to do so right now. Hybrids were a more realistic approach to address some needs and concerns of the average Joe, and remain more realistic than any switch to full-EVs intended by bureaucrats.
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They could be making EVs today if they decided to do so 4-5 years ago. Automotive has a long development cycle.
As I have said before - there are different ways to meet the same regulations. Honda / Toyota have taken a different approach than GM / Ford. The Japanese have focused on making all their bread and butter models hybrids. The US companies have focused on selling a small number of EVs to offset their ICE vehicles.
A lot of this difference in strategy has to do with different product mixes. Ford and GM are essentially truck and commercial vehicle manufacturers. The bulk of their sales are gas guzzlers. One Transit EV or Lightening EV can offset 10 - 20 F-150s. Honda and Toyota have full lines of vehicles and are MUCH less dependent on trucks. Selling a 2025 Camry that meets CAFE 2032 today offsets quite a few Tacomas.
However, we are getting to an big inflection point and that is CARB's Advanced Clean Cars II which starts phasing in starting in 2026. Unless Honda and Toyota are going to abandon almost 50% of the US market they are going to have to start making EVs toward the end of the decade as they burn through their stockpile of credits they earned. (LOTS of ZEV credits were earned over the last 10 years for selling ICE and hybrid cars)