- Reveals of new battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric concepts previews expansion of Toyota and Lexus line-ups
- Toyota to start European battery assembly to supply its new Toyota C-HR prologue plug-in hybrid vehicle
- Woven Planet shared Toyota’s ‘Software First’ approach to accelerate the development of electrified vehicles and provided further insights on Woven City, a ‘test track for mobility’
- TME’s market share increases to a record 7.3% in 2022, +0.9% points year-on-year, as Toyota consolidates its position #2 best-selling car brand in Europe
At Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) annual Kenshiki event last week, a team of the company’s Global and European executives shared the company’s latest developments outlining its vision, technology strategy and revealing its latest products and services. Kenshiki means insight in Japanese and this year’s edition focused on carbon neutrality, and the ongoing transformation to a mobility provider.
Full Carbon Neutrality by 2040
During the main plenary briefing, Toyota Motor Europe announced its commitment to achieve full carbon neutrality in Europe by latest 2040.
Building on its undertaking last year to achieve 100% CO2 reduction in all new vehicles in the EU, UK and EFTA by 2035, TME’s direction has two key focus areas: the first is carbon neutrality and how it can be achieved in areas of the business, and the second is the future of mobility and the ongoing transition from a manufacturing and sales company to a provider of mobility services.
Zoe Bradley, Head of Marketing Communications and Corporate Affairs in Toyota Ireland, commented, “Today’s newly outlined multi-faceted plan brings to life Toyota’s ‘Built for a Better World’ brand purpose. By making changes like the switch to green energy and implementing numerous kaizen innovations to reduce CO2 emissions, Toyota continues to take important steps in the journey towards an emission-free society.
Our electrified products and their technologies improve with each new generation, and owing to various factors such as the current short supply of materials, a combination of battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric and hybrid electric vehicles ensures an impactful all-encompassing approach to reduce CO2 emissions over the next 10-15 years. With our relentless focus to achieve a better planet for all and the outlining of our path to a 100% reduction in CO2 by 2040, we are excited about continuing to make a profound difference in the automotive world.”
The power of And’ - the science behind Toyota’s multi-technology strategy
With the ‘power of And,’ Toyota acknowledges that one size rarely fits all, particularly when considering diverse customer needs and infrastructure readiness. Toyota’s global strategy relates closely to meeting the diverse needs of its European customers with a line-up which includes battery electric and fuel-cell and hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Product Power of TME’s Electrified Line-up Driving Growth
TME expects to sell around 1.1M vehicles in 2022, a small but important increase year-on-year in a European market which was down by -12%, and setting a new record market share of 7.3% up by +0.9% points year-on-year.
This momentum is driven by the product power of TME’s diverse electrified model range commanding an overall European mix of around 66% of total sales.
Woven Planet: Mobility to Love, Safety to Live
In its first presentation to European media, Woven Planet’s Dr James Kuffner explained its unique role in Toyota’s transition to a mobility company. Woven Planet’s mission statement of ‘Mobility to love, safety to live’.
“We are creating new software platforms and tools, processes and a culture shift to software-defined development for Toyota. This will improve productivity by delivering software that allows for scalability and the reuse of code across hundreds of Toyota and Lexus models” said Dr James Kuffner, CEO of Woven Planet Holdings & Chief Digital Officer of TMC
Woven Planet’s vision embraces three types of mobility – Mobility of People, Mobility of Goods and Mobility of Information, and this guides its key focus areas:
- Arene (‘Software First’) – the creation of new mobility technology provides the core DNA of Toyota’s mobility products and services with the design of software architecture before developing the hardware. Notably, Woven Planet’s ‘Arene’ software platform will provide the foundation for implementing Toyota’s Software Defined Architecture (SDA).
- Automated Driving & Advanced Safety (ADAS), responsible for Toyota Teammate and Lexus Teammate ‘Advanced Drive’ technology. In keeping with Toyota’s ‘Guardian’ approach to ADAS, it includes the continuous development of an array for enhanced safety and automated driving systems.
- Woven City – Dr Kuffner provided further insights into the role of Woven City, currently under construction near to Mt Fuji, Japan. When completed Woven City aspires to become a unique proving ground to accelerate innovation and deliver the world’s future mobility at scale. As a test track it will speed the development of mobility technology, smart agriculture, clean energy and healthy living all powered by software with security and privacy built-in to its design.
Kenshiki Deep Dives
A series of Kenshiki product and technology deep dives followed the main meeting:
- New Lexus RZ450e battery electric SUV and Lexus RX (plug-in hybrid and hybrid)
- bZ Compact SUV Concept battery electric, one of 6 bZ BEVs developed on the e-TNGA platform which will be available in European
- Toyota C-HR prologue: The Bold Becomes Bolder - European premiere of the new Toyota C-HR prologue indicating the styling of the next generation Toyota C-HR.
- All new Prius plug-in hybrid
- Woven Planet Deep Dive