Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday said his company would continue to make a variety of vehicle types available to customers, even as tighter global regulations are prompting automakers to develop more electric vehicles. At the launch of new line of sports cars, Toyoda said that electric vehicles are in focus at the moment but customers and the market will ultimately decide which powertrains will be successful.
Toyoda said, "Toyota will continue to focus on powertrains that focus on hybrid technology, including fuel cell vehicles, plug-in hybrids and -- although we were a bit late to the game - EVs."
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He also said Toyota was not considering focusing solely on EVs.
Last month, we had reported that Toyota is mulling over launching its own line of sports cars in September. With Toyota Supra to be leading the charge of the new sports car line, the company will bring in the expertise of Gazoo Racing Co (GRMN) to manufacture specially tuned sporty editions of Toyota vehicles.
Reports also suggest that the company might revive the Celica nameplate, with a newer model to go up with the Supra. However, the company has invested heavily in the Celica; we believe Toyota might just give the Celica a major update for its sports car range. Although originally a RWD, Toyota could change the Celica in to a FWD sports coupe.
However, all these are mere speculations, and only Toyota can give the answers, whenever they feel the time is right.
