Shift to EV-only future would spell job losses, warns Toyota chair Toyoda

A shift to an electric vehicle (EV) only future would lead to job losses among those who have been working on engine-related technologies, including at the many suppliers in the sector, Toyota Motor's chairperson said on Thursday.

“There are 5.5-million people involved in the automotive industry in Japan. Among them are those who have been doing engine-related [work] for a long time,” Akio Toyoda told reporters.

“If EVs become the only choice, including for our suppliers, those people's jobs would be lost,” he said, adding he liked petrol vehicles.

Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker by sales, has been more cautious in its approach to EVs than other makers. That's helping it now as global EV sales slow and it benefits from demand for its expanding hybrid line-up, including in its top market the US.

It champions what it calls a “multi-pathway” strategy towards zero carbon emissions that includes EVs, hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and other powertrain technology.

In January, Toyoda said EVs would at most account for 30% of the global car market, with hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell and fuel-burning vehicles making up the rest. He did not specify a timeframe for that forecast.

Toyoda made the comments to reporters at the unveiling of a bust of his father Shoichiro Toyoda at Nagoya University in central Japan.

The elder Toyoda, who died aged 97 last year, led Toyota during the 1980s when the company reshaped the global car market, upending Detroit's dominance. He also oversaw the launch of the luxury Lexus brand and the Prius hybrid.