Whoooboy this is not going to age well.

 

I think he implied that Teslas are kit cars and not real cars

 

With a foot in the mouth statement like this it does make it more clear why Toyota is stuck in the mud their CEO should worry about his own languishing product line.

 

Dummies like this are why Blockbuster, Polaroid and others no longer exist. It’s only fake if you believe it’s fake. Customer preferences drive what companies should design and build. Toyota and Lexus do bios great vehicles, but they are painfully slow to change direction.

 

Toyota Motor Corp has chosen to literally bypass lithium ion batteries first pioneered by Sony in 1991.
Instead TMC has chosen to develop solid state battery technology, combined with Japan's exploration of rare earth metals beneath the Japanese ocean, as well as Japanese mining of rare earth metals in both Malaysia and Australia.

For electrification to reach the next step in mass production, a combination of battery technology breakthrough, as well as rare earth metals mining breakthrough is needed.

Current lithium ion technology and rare earth metal supplies are both very limited.

 

Toyota may keep working on some perfect 'recipe' but meanwhile tesla's "mcdonalds" of EVs is raking it in.

 

I don't think Musk would like that characterization. If I was on Twitter I would tweet that.

 

This exactly. Currently happening in the chip sector too. Intel had the market cornered, meanwhile AMD stayed the course, and came out with outstanding product, have buzz, and are stealing contracts (lol, exactly what Tesla is doing). I hate when great companies start doing crap like this. They thought things were going well a few years ago, now they are desperate to catch up and it shows with this statement and overall average lineup throughout.

 

For the most part, I have to agree with Toyoda. Though they are not among my personal favorites, at least his company builds reliable products. One can purchase or lease a Toyota product, ICE, hybrid, or BEV, with a reasonably good prospect of not having to face this:

 

Toyota just recalled 3.4 million cars and counting, people in glass houses. Plus most Toyota's are boring and slow with terrible infotainment systems, I used to love the company but now I have little interest in anything they make outside of their body on frame vehicles. I frequently pick up parts at a local dealer so I've checked out most if not all the models, they leave me cold. Not terrible, not great. Forgettable.

Also, even with Tesla's quality problems they still can't make them fast enough. People WANT a Tesla, people buy a Toyota because, well I guess and it's apparently reliable plus their old one is great.

 

I agree that Toyota build-quality is no longer what it was in the 80s and 90s, but virtually all reliability rankings still put it many ranks higher than Tesla in that regard.

 

Pretty sure everyone that buys a Tesla knows this. If a Tesla was exactly like a Toyota Camry but less reliable then sure not many would choose a Tesla. Why can't I buy a Toyota that has all the tech of a Tesla but with Toyota reliability? Does Toyota really think I'll cross shop a Mirai and Model 3? I can see people cross shopping the RAV4 Prime and Model Y but try finding a Prime, nearly impossible.

So Mr. Toyoda, you say you have the recipe when do you plan on using it?

 

What a dumb thing to say, Toyota need ls to step up. As much I love the Lexus brand, Tesla is pretty much innovating quicker.

 

It's not just the tech, but also about mining more rare earth metals - without the need to purchase rare earths from the Chinese.

This will take time, and without it, there is no electrification.

 

Yes I'm sure the EV's Lexus sells in China use neodymium not sourced from China.