Toyota's North American CEO Isn't Exactly Brimming With Enthusiasm for EVs

When it comes to electric vehicles, Toyota’s North American CEO seems to be on a different page than the company’s big boss, Akio Toyoda. A different page than Ford and General Motors, too. Maybe it’s because Toyoda has the entire globe in his sights, including many EV-hungry markets, while Jim Lentz can only look around, see low, low gas prices and a niche market dominated by a single player, and feel a rush of meh.

Lentz aired his views on our would-be electric future Wednesday, suggesting it would take draconian measures by the government to pry a healthy slice of Americans away from the gas pump. He’s not too enthused with Tesla, either.

Speaking at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Lentz said the hype surrounding Tesla belies the fact that conditions for EV adoption in the U.S. are terrible, Wards Auto reports.

In Lentz’s mind, nothing short of government regulation could force consumers to step away from sub two-dollar gasoline and nudge the EV take rate up at a reasonable clip. Continued slow growth, led by one manufacturer (Tesla), is what the future holds, he claims.

“There’s not much growth in that industry,” Lentz said, adding that some automakers might be focusing too much on the future and not on the next few years.

Indeed, Wards data shows just over 1.2 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. last year were battery electric vehicles. While EV sales did rise 103.7 percent in 2018, the bulk of that sales tally was taken up by Tesla. Hybrids, both regular and plug-in, still outsold EVs by more than two to one.

As the creator of the first mass-market hybrid vehicle, Toyota has expressed doubt about the rush to field fully electric vehicles before. It’s still bullish on hybrids, but has, especially in the past year or two, shown a willingness to advance its own plans for EVs. There’s now a plan to introduce 10 such models in various markets by early next decade.

Because Tesla is such a big player in America’s still niche EV market, Lentz doesn’t see it as a major competitor to his business, though he admits it could be hurting Prius sales.

“(Musk) is creating an entirely new segment of vehicles,” he said, adding that 70 percent of Tesla buyers are beholden to the brand, and wouldn’t consider a competitor’s product. “And by that, I don’t view Tesla products as luxury products. Those of us who only separate the world between luxury and non-luxury, we’re missing the point. Tesla has created this new category of a technology-driven product.”

While Toyota’s Prius and Prius Prime plug-in do not overlap with any existing Tesla in terms of price, personal finances can change and the Tesla brand has already overtaken the Prius nameplate in eco snob appeal. Sales of the Prius family fell 19.4 percent in 2018.

[Image: Toyota]