Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corporation’s comprehensive strategy to move to electric vehicles over the next decade or so has been finally laid out. The carmaker has made it clear that it has no intentions of ceding its position as one of the leading automakers even when popular powertrains shift from internal combustion (petrol, diesel and gas) to electric motors.

That could greatly benefit India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki. There is already partnership between the two companies with models being shared with different names and cosmetic changes and that could extend to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as well. And that could well save the day since so far Maruti hasn’t announced any comprehensive BEV strategy on its own, maybe expecting to share Toyota’s technology.

Toyota has, meanwhile, showed no less than 17 passenger EVs, both for brand Toyota as well the luxury brand Lexus owned by it. The target is to sell 3.5 million BEVs a year by 2030, which is a significant revision upwards from a conservative figure of 2 million vehicles given earlier.

According to Toyota global chief Akio Toyoda, the number includes “another 1.5 million to make it 3.5 million, which is equivalent to the volume of Daimler, PSA, and Suzuki Motors. That is the scope in discussion now. I hope it is clear that what we are announcing today is a significant amount.” (And India is a major market for Suzuki cars via Maruti Suzuki.)

In the line-up are not only SUVs and sedans, but also trucks, sportscars and supercars. Toyoda says that considering TMC’s sales of 10 million cars, the 3.5 million figure is significant. Lexus, meanwhile, will go completely electric by 2035.

The bZ compact SUV

The first vehicle off the blocks will be the ‘bZ’ line, short for ‘beyond zero’ emissions, with the sharply styled bZ4X compact SUV. Then there will be others like the full-sized SUVs and urban mobility vehicles and so on. The idea is to become carbon neutral by 2035 and shift to clean energy. The first EV from Lexus will be the RZ crossover.

The Compact Cruiser EV concept

While Toyota has talked about going all electric in Europe, China and North America over the next decade or so, nothing specific has been said about Southeast Asia or India. That said, with India’s EV market showing very quick growth of about 300 per cent per annum, chances are that it will not be ignored and there will be cars headed for this market as well, either directly or through Maruti Suzuki. The wait should be worth it.

Pictures: Toyota Motor Corporation