Toyota’s new boss sees a problem: too many models

10,536,807. Toyota sold the same number of cars last year, including models from its luxury division Lexus. Demand is expected to increase by 3.7 percent in 2025, giving the Japanese automotive giant a chance to take the sales crown for the sixth consecutive year. While large sales numbers are generally viewed as positive, maximizing volume is not the ultimate goal of automakers. If the profit margin is high, a company can make more money by selling fewer vehicles.

Toyota’s newly appointed CEO, Kenta Kon, is looking for ways to put the company in a better position by identifying pending issues that need to be resolved. After visiting R&D centres, he observed that engineers could have very little work to do across a huge range of models and derivatives. The head of the world’s biggest carmaker suggests the huge portfolio could benefit from some downsizing:

‘If you go to any development division, you will see issues like different specifications and increasing number of variants, resulting in increasing costs. If there are areas in those activities that are not really value-added work, or where work is not being done efficiently, then we need to take a closer look at those.’

Toyota Axes Future EV, keeps 42-year-old SUV

It’s too early for Toyota to say which models might get a discount, but we already know that the Lexus LF-ZC is no longer moving. Plans for an electric sedan have been postponed “due to fluctuations in market demand and the workload associated with vehicle planning and manufacturing.” In other words, the company was worried that there wouldn’t be enough customer demand to justify the costs involved in developing and manufacturing a luxury EV.

Toyota’s lineup is fascinatingly complex, and no model better reflects the vastness of its portfolio than the one originally introduced in 1984. The Land Cruiser 70 Series remains on sale in markets such as Australia and Japan, albeit with updates to keep it relevant. Yet, at its core, it’s still a 42-year-old SUV, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The J70 can go virtually anywhere and is practically indestructible, not to mention that it will likely outlive its owner.

Promote hybrid production

Kenta Kon has just over two months left in his new role, having replaced Koji Sato on April 1. In addition to recognizing how the lineup has expanded over the years, automotive news The new CEO reportedly plans to “make improvements and implement improvements” in other areas of the business. Increasing hybrid vehicle production capacity is one of the major priorities.

reuters Toyota’s new chief has been quoted as saying that the company will “not hit the brakes suddenly” when it comes to offering multiple powertrain options. That means gasoline, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and even some diesel models will remain part of the lineup rather than putting all the proverbial eggs in the EV basket.

Akio Toyoda, who was recently re-elected chairman by shareholders, famously said as early as 2025 that EVs would never exceed 30 percent of the global market share. However, today he believes the industry is increasingly gravitating towards EVs, while he finds himself “very alone” among the few still championing combustion engines.

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Motor1’s Opinion: Toyota maintains a good lead over Volkswagen Group in the global sales race. However, this is more a marathon than a sprint, and total volume alone is not the end game. Hopefully, any streamlining of the company’s vast portfolio won’t impact current and future Gazoo Racing performance cars, especially now that the division has been spun off into a separate brand led by GR GT.