A slowdown in demand for electric vehicles (EVs) globally appears to have triggered Toyota to walk back its targets. Nikkei Asia reports Toyota’s forecast of 1.5 million EV sales annually by 2026, announced in April last year , has been cut by one third to one million annual sales.
The publication doesn’t cite a source for the revised targets, though it reports the decision was “prompted by the slowdown in the global EV market,” and that “Toyota has notified its parts suppliers of the decision.” 100s of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal.
Browse now . However, news agency Reuters reports Toyota said in a statement that it had made no changes to its projection of 1.5 million annual EV sales by 2026, while also claiming “the figures were not targets but benchmarks for shareholders”.
According to Nikkei Asia’s report, Toyota will produce slightly more than 400,000 EVs in 2025 before increasing its output to one million the following year. Regardless of which target is in place, and despite criticism of Toyota being slow to embrace EVs, the figures represent a significant increase on its current EV sales. Last year , Toyota set a new automotive industry record by selling 11,233,039 vehicles across its namesake brand, the Lexus luxury brand, the Daihatsu small-car division and Hino truck arm.
However, EVs accounted for just 104,018 sales, or less than one per cent of the total, while hybrid.