Toyota rethinks long-term EV strategy, calls Tesla Y a 'work of art,' report says

When Akio Toyoda stepped down as CEO of Toyota in January, it seemed like an unofficial capitulation to the pounding his company's been taking in the media. Analysts and press have pummeled Toyota for being slow to embrace electric vehicles, and incoming leader Koji Sato is making EVs a priority. However, that doesn't necessarily mean using Toyota's manufacturing might to fast-track EVs into production. In the short term, it may be just the opposite.

According to an wide-ranging article in Automotive News, Toyota is taking an almost blank-slate approach to its EV strategy. The trade publication claims to have spoken anonymously with several high-ranking insiders, drawing the conclusion that Toyota may be dissatisfied with its e-TNGA platform that underpins its first EVs, the bZ4X and Lexus RZ, as well as the Chinese-market bZ3.

Recently, AN says, engineers at Toyota disassembled a Tesla Model Y to study its competition, a common practice among automakers. In California, which has over five times more EV registrations than the next most EV-eager state according to the Department of Energy, the Model Y outsold Toyota's wildly popular RAV4, and the Model 3 outsold the Camry last year.