Text/"Autobot" Ye Li
Major actions of first-line car companies rarely make sudden attacks, and they are all announced several months in advance. Never pursue the news itself, but pay more attention to stability and predictability.
On April 1 day, Toyota officially realized the leadership change announced more than two months ago. Not only Akio Toyoda was transferred as president, but also the whole senior management team has undergone great changes. In February, the senior management changes of up to 26 people and the "2026 Strategy" statement on April 1 day were announced.
Sure enough, on April 7, a week after Sato took office, Toyota held a "new system policy briefing".
This is the first press conference after the new management structure led by Sato Hengji set sail. In Sato's view, Toyota's electric strategy did not leave a "strong" impression, mainly because of the release of external information. "Regarding the statement that we are making slow progress in the battery electric vehicle project, I think about half of it is a communication problem."
Solve the problem of "the other half"
At the same time, the management under Hiroshi Sato further revised the new energy strategy, apparently to solve the "other half" problem, that is, to speed up the implementation of the new energy strategy.
This is obvious. 20 18 Up to now, Toyota has been pressing the "acceleration button" continuously, but it is still criticized by the outside world for being conservative.
It should be pointed out that there is no real standard for radicalism and conservatism. Public opinion only saw that some China enterprises and Tesla made great gains in new energy business, even Stud. However, 100% new energy business has only two brands: one is born with new energy genes; The other is that there is nothing to miss in the traditional automobile business. Toyota doesn't belong to either.
It cannot be ignored that Toyota is a highly global company. From a global perspective, the profits of fuel vehicle business and even HEV are still rich.
In the first three quarters of fiscal year 2023 (April 2022 1 to February 3, 20221), Toyota's revenue was 27.46 trillion yen (about 1.44 trillion RMB), a year-on-year increase of18.01%; The net profit returned to the mother was 1.9 trillion yen (993.1900 million yuan), down 18. 10% year-on-year.
In the case that the traditional business is still quite profitable, it is obviously irrational for the whole group to refresh its energy business (according to the financial report, the gross profit of Tesla electric bicycles is seven times that of Toyota pure electric vehicles). Therefore, the strategic urgency of Toyota's transformation of new energy sources is not strong, and the control rhythm should be changed.
With the development of R&D new energy production and supply chain, Toyota is more inclined to new energy business. Prior to this, a large amount of R&D expenses were invested, which was the strategic basis of the transformation.
Therefore, we can see that the two generations of Toyota presidents, although there are subtle differences in style, are consistent in controlling the rhythm, and they do not intend to fully engage in electric power at this stage.
However, at the "policy briefing" on April 7, it was obvious that Toyota was accelerating its entry into the new energy business in a planned way, and the plan spread from the long term to the short term. The specific road map has been made, and its practicability has been greatly enhanced. This is the difference between Sato Tsuji and Akio Toyoda, and it is also caused by the change of the situation.
Accelerate the strategic rhythm of new energy.
Starting from 2023, Toyota plans to launch 30 EVs by 2030, with EV sales reaching 3.5 million. Compared with the plan in 2002 1 year (the total sales volume of EV and FCV is 2 million vehicles in 2030) and the plan in 20 18 year (the total sales volume of EV and FCV is110,000 vehicles in 2030), the plan is greatly accelerated.
Now, according to the strategy of 2030, Hiroshi Sato has put forward a medium-term goal, that is, to put 65,438+00 EVs before 2026, so that the global annual sales will reach 654.38+05 million EVs. This is equivalent to 60 times of EV sales in 2022, which will be realized in four years (the fiscal year plan starting from April 1 is still adopted).
Accordingly, short-term planning is also accelerating. In 2024, China will add two "locally developed" electric vehicles. This seems to imply that Toyota should take the road of localization of EV R&D and joint promotion with strategic partners. With the help of China's EV industry and wisdom, and the strategy rooted in China's EV supply chain, Toyota has shown signs of overweight.
For the American and European markets, bZ series will continue to strengthen and increase models. In emerging market countries, pickup trucks and new small cars will be on the market.
In this way, Toyota has formulated a "three-step" specific layout for the new policy. China market will play a more important role in the development and production of electric vehicles. Because the "general policy" at the group level is actually aimed at specific models in specific markets, it is still relatively rare. I'm afraid this also responds to Sato's idea of "strengthening communication".
Heredity and evolution
It is impossible for Toyota to retreat from the world's largest automobile industry, so Sato Hengji put forward the theme of the policy as "inheritance and evolution". The former is very clear, that is, to undertake all the existing businesses of the group and not give up one; The latter is essentially to strengthen the EV strategy.
In Akio Toyoda's era, he repeatedly emphasized the implementation of new energy business with carbon emission reduction as the standard, that is, the strategy of EV, FCV and hydrogen internal combustion engine going hand in hand.
In the narrative led by Sato Henderson, it is still the "all-round strategy" of new energy. However, the EV track has been upgraded to one of the main positions. This is not rhetoric, and the group's trillion yen investment is enough to show that Toyota's strategic revision is serious.
With the realization of the commercial value of FCV, Sato Henderson proposed to promote it with commercial vehicles as the center. This is in line with the efforts made by domestic enterprises at present, and the two sides seek the possibility of cooperation (for example, with faw liberation).
As the successor of Akio Toyoda, Yoko Sato has not seen the ruling style for a short time, but he has put forward his own clear proposition, that is, his "Toyota Mobility Concept".
This is a new concept, and the current description is not enough to see the whole picture. This paper puts forward the standard of "value expansion" from three aspects: automobile, mobile travel and social service. Toyota will rely on cloud-based internet services (called "aromatics") to provide car safety services and cross-platform car OS remotely.
There are many technologies in it, and China enterprises are implementing research and development, and some of them have been deployed rapidly. Toyota put forward this point, indicating that it is trying to add value to the brand with the help of the data capabilities of the Internet and the cloud.
Part of this briefing was seen in the media earlier this year. However, only from the new CEO of Toyota can we truly realize that Toyota's new energy strategy is to endorse the resources of the whole group and put it on the future fate of the group.
Sato Henderson's action was swift and bold, which showed that his action was supported by Akio Toyoda, the president, and the old school. Otherwise, there will be no substantial high-level reorganization, which is obviously to adapt to the "Sato New Deal".
The Toyota revolution in which EV is the pioneer will start from Lexus, and Toyota's main brands will catch up quickly. The production capacity of 3 million vehicles in several major markets around the world will be completely changed (most of them should be built in the next few years).
To this end, Toyota needs to vigorously transform its supply chain until it can provide enough parts for this capacity plan. Among them, the deployment of battery capacity will be the focus. In addition to traditional Panasonic, Toyota will also seek to finalize long-term cooperation with China battery suppliers. Next, we will see that Toyota has substantial contact with the latter.
Powerful behemoths are hard to be knocked down head-on. What can threaten it is short-sightedness and indifference to environmental change. Sato's actions have shown that he understands the changes in the current automobile industry structure, which is much faster than Toyota's establishment of an empire in decades. He is determined to make full use of these forces that have just come to power to catch up and gain new vitality.
Akio Toyoda said, "The new team can do what I can't." In a word, there are many images worth pondering.
The "Policy Briefing Meeting" on April 7 marked the beginning of Toyota's new strategy with the seal of Sato Hengji. This time, it may take only a short time (say, a year or two) to see the effect of the New Deal. Copyright statement This article is the original manuscript of Autobots and may not be reproduced without authorization.
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