Toyota Motor Corp. plans to adjust its electric vehicle (EV) strategy and provide it to key suppliers early next year, two people with knowledge of the work recently told Reuters.
The Japanese automaker is expected to detail EV plan changes through early 2026 and communicate the changes to major suppliers, the people said on condition of anonymity.
Toyota is examining ways to improve the competitiveness of the EVs planned for this decade. The automaker is looking ways to use performance-boosting technologies in planned EVs, such as electric drive systems that convert power from the grid to energy stored in batteries and more integrated heating and cooling systems, the people said.
Adding these innovations could delay some of the company’s EV development programs originally planned over a three-year period, one of the people said.
The adjustments would go into the successors of Toyota's first two EVs for major markets, the bZ4X and the Lexus RZ, and would help close the gap with Tesla Inc. on cost and performance, the people said.
Tesla reportedly made almost eight times the profit per vehicle as Toyota in the third quarter, partly because of its ability to simplify EV production and reduce cost, analysts have noted.
Toyota has been reviewing a $30-billion, three-stage plan for developing and releasing the EVs that were announced late last year. Toyota has assigned working group charged with outlining plans to improve its EV approach. This working group is also considering a potential successor to its new EV platform, e-TNGA.
