Page 4 - Motoring Autumn 2022

INDUSTRY NEWS TOYOTA

Toyota talks Electric at

SOMI 2022

he President and CEO of Toyota South diverse solutions. This is particularly important for mitigating climate change because CO 2
Africa Motors (TSAM), Andrew Kirby, emissions accumulate globally and remain in the atmosphere for a long time: we need to reduce
Tdelivered his fifth State of the Motor CO 2 as much as possible, as soon as possible,” Dr Pratt said.
Industry (SOMI) address at the Kyalami
Racetrack and Conference Centre in February. He explained that Toyota’s strategy towards the reduction of carbon emissions was premised on
The event, which has become a three key points:
permanent feature on the local automotive • Decarbonise as much as possible as quickly as possible;
calendar, discussed a number of pertinent • Enable everyone to reduce their carbon emissions as much as possible;
topics in the industry – including future • Maximise Carbon Return on Investment (CROI).
mobility, market trends and a couple of
announcements about motorsport. As Dr Pratt put it: “The greatest reason Toyota believes we should diversify our portfolio of
This year’s guest speaker, Chief Scientist solutions to climate change is that a diverse approach is more likely to work. That’s why, in
of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and December of 2021, Akio Toyoda announced that Toyota will invest approximately $70 billion
CEO of the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), globally in electrified vehicles, including Hybrid-petrol Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles,
Dr Gill Pratt, mapped out the company’s Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV). Toyoda explained that Toyota wants
global plans with regards to electrification, to prepare as many options as possible for our customers around the world. He also announced
the reduction of carbon emissions, and that Toyota plans to roll out 30 BEV models by 2030 and Lexus is aiming for 100% BEV sales
autonomous driving. globally by 2035.”
“We believe in battery electric vehicles Andrew Kirby concurred that a diverse approach or ‘diversity of drivetrains’ is what is
and we’re investing heavily in them, but needed by the industry in the fight against carbon dioxide. He said that government incentives
we also believe that the way to reduce are needed in SA to encourage the adoption of new energy vehicles by making the cost
more carbon emissions sooner is to employ attractive to the market.

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