Toyota to add EV to European lineup in 2021

GENEVA -- Toyota aims to sell an electric vehicle in Europe by 2021 and has identified SUVs and vans as the sectors that it believes will be most responsive to the technology, Toyota Europe CEO Johan van Zyl said.

The company has so far resisted selling an EV in the region citing the lack of profitability compared with its strong-selling lineup of hybrids. Toyota predicts hybrid will account for half of its sales in Europe in 2019, a year ahead of schedule, rising to 60 percent by 2021.

“The price point [for an EV] will be high, therefore, you will see them in SUVs. They will also be much appreciated in a van-type vehicle in cities if they expand their zero-emissions zones,” van Zyl told journalists on the sidelines of the auto show here. “We would like to have something in place by 2021,” he added to Automotive News Europe.

Toyota will sell its first EV next year when it launches a battery-powered version of the C-HR compact SUV in China. The vehicle could possibly be sold in Europe as well. “It’s something that can be looked at,” van Zyl said. The company has said it plans to sell 10 EVs globally by the early 2020s.

An electric van is likely to come from Toyota’s partnership with PSA Group. PSA already supplies the Japanese firm with midsize vans and Toyota announced last November that it would also take a compact van from the French group. PSA is rolling out electric versions of its midsize vans, starting next year with the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro.

Toyota remains unconvinced that EVs can directly replace vehicles with a combustion engine without forcing customers to pay more. “It will be many years before the price is anywhere near as competitive as conventional products net of incentives,” Matt Harrison, Toyota Europe’s head of sales and marketing, said at the same event.

Until then, manufacturers will have to cut prices to ensure EVs appeal to customers in the quantity needed for manufacturers hit their CO2 targets.

“In the next two to three years, if look at the CO2 compliance targets, it’s quite clear the level of electric vehicles from our competitors will be ahead of the demand level,” Harrison said. “What our customers want and what they are prepared to pay for determines the speed at which we need to roll out that type of solution. That’s why we think hybrids are a better solution in the short term for the majority of customers.”