Toyota has long expressed doubt that all-electric vehicles will one day completely take over for more traditional ICE models, though the automaker has invested heavily in EVs, regardless. At the same time, Toyota is also doing precisely what Ford has decided to do as of late – add more and more hybrid models to its lineup as those types of vehicle continue to enjoy a tremendous sales increase. Now, it seems as if the Japanese automaker may decide to go partially-electric across its entire American lineup at some point.
According to Reuters, a pair of Toyota executives recently revealed that the company is considering moving to a full or nearly-full hybrid lineup in North America, and that includes its luxury brand, Lexus. “Going forward, we plan to evaluate, carline by carline, whether going all-hybrid makes sense,” said David Christ, head of sales and marketing for Toyota in North America. Several Toyota models have already gone hybrid-only as of late, including the Camry, Land Cruiser, Sienna, Sequoia, Venza, and Crown, with the RAV4 potentially joining them by 2026.
At least some of Toyota’s future North American hybrid models may be offered as plug-in hybrids as well, with larger batteries. The company hasn’t set a timetable for this transition, and it still plans on converting around 30 percent of its global fleet to EVs by 2030, though those models will be based on its top-sellers. Interestingly, Toyota also reportedly plans on converting its EVs into hybrids in the future, rather than starting with ICE models, as has traditionally been the case.
Meanwhile, Ford plans to offer a hybrid powertrain across its ICE-focused Blue lineup by 2030 as well, and that will even include the Ford Super Duty. FoMoCo previously stated that such a pivot will be relatively inexpensive to pull off thanks to declining battery costs, and we may soon even see Ford Performance vehicles with hybrid powerplants, too.
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Comments
Ford had hybrid and plug in hybrid in their Fusion and C- Max vehicles. I had a PHEV Fusion my son had the C- Max. We had no problems with either. All electric range wasn’t great but we still averaged over 60 mpg. Ford dropped both. I now have a 2023 Santa Fe Limited PHEV averaging 83.7 mpg with just over 10,000 miles on it. Hyundai and Kia have hybrid and PHEV vehicles models in most of the vehicles they sell.
Ford you’re way behind !!
Agreed! Sad that GM is even farther behind, as they haven’t even decided yet to offer hybrid powertrains on every vehicle. I believe they will need to in order to survive.
“By 2030” – that’s too late, Ford won’t survive the sales bandwagon if it this timeline isn’t anything like 2026…so 2 YEARS away not 6 YEARS away…
Hybrids standard across the board!