9
votes
Toyota has a history of creating misleading electric vehicle ads, especially with its 'self-charging hybrid' ad campaign – Norway has now banned the campaign
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- Title
- Toyota's 'self-charging hybrid' ad is banned in Norway, deemed a lie
- Published
- Jan 24 2020
- Word count
- 517 words
I honestly have no clue why Toyota hates the idea of selling battery electric cars. Toyota has been my #1 car brand because of their lasting quality, but hybrid cars are frankly a little bit stupid and hydrogen Fuel Cell powered cars are drastically inconvenient to the point that it's unrealistic to drive.
Toyota's Prius is wildly popular. If Toyota were to develop a low cost battery electric car, it would eat into their Prius market share. There are only so many people willing to buy a Toyota Hybrid/Electric. So effectively Toyota will be increasing R&D costs at the risk of sales remaining mostly flat. Seems kind of stupid, short term thinking, given that battery powered is probably the future, right? The Innovators Dilemma is a fantastic book that shows companies make this mistake all the time.
Battery cars are expensive. The Toyota brand is all about low cost reliability. Toyota would either need to release the electric car under another brand, or wait until electric cars are cheaper to manufacture. See Positioning, the battle for your mind, another fantastic book, for more details.
I agree. I was really hoping they'd be on the forefront of the EV market after their early push into hybrids, but beyond some oddballs like the limited Rav 4EV production, they have been sorely lacking. Even Lexus is behind BMW.