> Toyota is taking on a lot of risk with their bet on Hydrogen
They took a lot of risk on it, but it was hedged with hybrids
, including PHEVs (with which they have done quite well), and while they are a little late to the party with a pure BEV, they are rolling those out to.
There isn’t any real sense where I see them gambling on hydrogen now except as a side bet.
The only non-commercial electric model they sell right now is the 'Proace City Verso', and it's not exactly a sales success. There is the BZ4X in the works (what a name) but you can only reserve it, they don't actually have them yet, production was halted, resumed, then halted again and they had a recall before they even shipped them (I don't know how that is even possible, the cause: wheel fell off).
The rest is - from what I can see - all hybrids, with minimal batteries. No Prius, Yaris, Aygo or Corolla with all electric drive, which would be an instant sales success. Their 2023 lineup? More hybrids. Meanwhile VW is on their second iteration of their all-electric line with four models across a broad spectrum.
I honestly don't get it. They can't be that stupid, and with the hybrid era pretty much over they have lost what was once a pretty good lead. They already had the drive train pretty much all they need to do at this point is to replace the mass of the ICE with a much larger battery pack and they're set to compete. That would still require a redesign of the vehicle but they have done that so many times I don't see that as an obstacle.
They took a lot of risk on it, but it was hedged with hybrids , including PHEVs (with which they have done quite well), and while they are a little late to the party with a pure BEV, they are rolling those out to.
There isn’t any real sense where I see them gambling on hydrogen now except as a side bet.