This year has been quite a fruitful one for Toyota with sales and profits climbing through the first eight months of the year. However, this doesn’t include the company’s EV sales, as it has significantly reduced its sales expectations for battery-electric vehicles.
In a previous forecast for the fiscal year running between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, Toyota said it was aiming to sell 202,000 battery electric vehicles, 137,000 plug-in hybrids, and 3,497,000 traditional hybrids. In its most recent forecast, Toyota expects to sell 123,000 BEVs for the financial year, representing a 39.1% decrease but still significantly more than the 38,000 it sold during the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Toyota has also cut its sales forecast of hydrogen fuel-cell EVs from 8,000 units, down to 5,000 units.
Over the coming six months, Toyota does expect sales of its PHEVs to climb to 141,000 units while HEVs should climb to 3,598,000. All up, the Japanese car manufacturer believes its electrified vehicles will account for a 37.2% share of its total sales across the Toyota and Lexus brands, an increase from the 29.6% of last year.
While speaking about the revised forecast during Toyota’s most recent financial results, chief financial officer Yoichi Miyazaki noted that the EV price war in China played a role in the firm’s sales revisions. He said that Toyota will look to bolster profitability in China by increasing the supply of hybrid models while many rivals cut prices and encounter lower margins. He added that the firm’s large array of powertrain options has also allowed it to avoid price competition.
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“Another major point is the careful timing of our investment decisions,” he said. “Our comprehensive assessment of investments in BEVs and batteries while considering the energy situation and infrastructure in each country, the evolution of technology and changes in actual customer demand has enabled us to achieve a strong financial foundation upon which we can promote investments for the future.”
