Joint Effort Aims to Innovate Vehicle Design and Enhance Compatibility with Alternative Fuels
The joint statement released on Tuesday outlines their goal to optimise integration with motors, batteries, and other electric drive units, promising more compact engines that will facilitate lower-hood designs.
Toyota, benefiting from the popularity of gasoline-electric hybrids in markets like the United States, sees this development as a way to innovate vehicle design by saving space under the hood.
“If it is cool, it will sell. Therefore, profit will increase,” said Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima during a press briefing at the Fuji Speedway circuit. He added, “If it’s not cool, nobody will buy it.”
This announcement highlights the strong partnership between Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda. Toyota holds approximately a 20 per cent stake in Subaru and a 5 per cent stake in Mazda.
The three automakers are committed to decarbonising internal combustion engines, aiming to make them compatible with alternative fuels such as e-fuels and biofuels.
The automotive industry is facing increasingly stringent emissions standards, particularly in the European Union. Policymakers there are working on the “Euro 7” regulations, set to be implemented for cars and vans by 2030, with a plan to ban the sale of new CO2-emitting vehicles by 2035.
Toyota is pursuing a “multi-pathway” strategy towards carbon neutrality, offering a variety of powertrains to meet different market needs. From January to March, Toyota sold approximately 2.4 million vehicles, with nearly 40 per cent being petrol-electric hybrids.
However, plug-in hybrids, fuel-cell vehicles, and all-electric vehicles combined accounted for just 2.9 per cent of sales.
Chairman Akio Toyoda has projected that electric vehicles will capture no more than 30 per cent of the global auto market, with hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell cars, and traditional fuel-burning vehicles making up the remainder.
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