Toyota chief warns of job losses in shift to EVs only

Nagoya — A shift to a future of electric vehicles (EVs) only would lead to job losses among those who have been working on engine-related technologies, including at the many suppliers in the sector, Toyota Motor’s chair warned on Thursday.

“There are 5.5-million people involved in the automotive industry in Japan. Among them are those who have been doing engine-related [work] for a long time,” Akio Toyoda said.

“If electric vehicles simply become the only choice, including for our suppliers, those people’s jobs would be lost,” he said, adding he liked vehicles powered by petrol.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker by sales, has been more cautious in its approach to EVs than competitors. That’s helping it  now as global EV sales slow and it benefits from demand for its expanding hybrid line-up including in the US, its top market.

It champions what it calls a “multi-pathway” strategy towards zero-carbon emissions that includes EVs, hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and other powertrain technology.

In January, Toyoda said EVs would at most account for 30% of the global auto market, with hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell and fuel-burning vehicles making up the rest. He did not specify a time for that forecast.

Toyoda made the comments at the unveiling of a bust of his father, Shoichiro Toyoda, at Nagoya University in central Japan.

The elder Toyoda, who died aged 97 last year, led Toyota during the 1980s, when the company reshaped the global auto market, upending Detroit’s dominance. He also oversaw the launch of the luxury Lexus brand and the Prius hybrid.

Reuters