Though it continues to invest heavily in all-electric vehicles, Ford has also made it quite clear that it intends to continue producing and selling hybrid vehicles for the foreseeable future. This strategy has only gotten stronger as the sales of hybrid vehicles prove strong, a development that comes as demand for EVs has not quite lived up to expectations even though those types of models are still posting strong sales increases. Now, it seems as if Toyota – a bit of a pioneer in the hybrid game – is set to follow suit, according to Automotive News.
Toyota – which has long been a bit critical of the viability of EVs in spite of its own massive investments in that area – continues to enjoy success in terms of selling hybrids, prompting it to invest even more in that particular area of electrification. “This year we’re running at about a 42-percent rate of electrified product sales,” said vice president Stephen Beatty. “It includes EVs, plug-in hybrids – but overwhelmingly hybrids. And our numbers are only held back by the amount of supply we can bring to the market right now.”
In fact, consumer interest in Toyota hybrids has proven so strong that Beatty noted, “every time we bring a new car to the marketplace, it’s typically coming today either with a hybrid option or as hybrid only.” The executive also noted that like Ford, the company is finding EV customers a bit harder to come by now that early adopters have left the market. “The problem with that [is] once you get through the early adopters, it becomes much harder to find that next group of buyers,” he said. “By driving a hybrid, you can get a 20 to 30 percent improvement in fuel economy and a similar reduction in carbon emissions.”
The vast majority of recently-launched Toyota products support these statements, with models like the latest Tacoma and Tundra offering hybrid powerplants as an option. Additionally, a number of other models are only being sold with hybrid powertrains – a list that includes the Crown, Sequoia, Venza, and Sienna, and we will soon add the redesigned Camry sedan and Crown Signia crossover to that list, too.
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Comment
Toyota sold its first hybrid (the compact Prius) only one year before Ford sold its first hybrid (the Escape). Toyota hybrid quality is worse than Ford. My dentist bought a hybrid Camry for his wife and had to replace the battery twice. My hybrid 2014 Fusion still runs with the original battery. Ford still makes better hybrids. Both companies developed their hybrids in parallel and even cross licensed their ideas. Yet many Toyota fans still claim that Ford copied Toyota which is entirely false!