Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp is considering a factory floor overhaul as it plans a switch to a new, dedicated platform for battery electric vehicles. This comes after making significant changes to its leadership team. At his first briefing as CEO on Friday, Koji Sato may confirm that new EV architecture is being developed.
The largest automaker in the world is coming to the realisation that in order to lower production costs and transform its all-electric business into a higher margin one, as its Silicon Valley rival has done, it must match Tesla Inc.’s (TSLA.O) design and manufacturing innovations.
If adopted, a new EV platform would be the outcome of a thorough analysis of Toyota’s electric-car strategy carried out last year.
A slow but determined push by Toyota into battery electrics would align the automaker with its international competitors. The e-TNGA system, which was introduced in 2019 and uses the same assembly line as petrol and hybrid vehicles, is the company’s current production architecture.
However, e-TNGA is unable to match the cost savings achieved by Tesla through its enormous Giga Press casting machines and other manufacturing innovations. Due to the confidentiality of the information, the sources declined to be named. When questioned, Toyota responded that comments could be made at the briefing on Friday.
According to reports, Sato, Toyoda’s hand-picked successor, recently attended an internal presentation that concentrated on the necessity of a specific battery-electric platform, a more competitive system to manage heat generated by the battery, as well as other innovations influenced by Tesla’s playbook.
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