Toyota Chairman Akio Toyota Motor Corporation delivered counterintuitive address at annual Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this month, revealing plans to develop new internal combustion engines. Ever pragmatist, 67-year-old insisted engines have part to play in age of electric vehicles. “One engine will be good for environment, one will win races,” Toyoda told crowd.
Jury is still out on Toyoda’s view that EVs aren’t only means to carbon neutrality. But this much is clear: presentation was another example of mixed messaging that CEO Koji Sato will have to help car-buying public parse.