Is Toyota Going To Discontinue Some Fashions?

10,536,807. That’s what number of automobiles Toyota bought final 12 months, together with fashions from its luxurious division, Lexus. Demand rose by 3.7 p.c in 2025, permitting the Japanese automotive juggernaut to say the gross sales crown for the sixth consecutive 12 months. Whereas greater gross sales numbers are usually seen as a optimistic, maximizing quantity isn’t essentially the final word purpose automakers pursue. An organization can make more cash promoting fewer automobiles if revenue margins are greater.

Toyota’s newly appointed CEO, Kenta Kon, is in search of methods to place the corporate in higher form by figuring out lingering points that must be solved. After visiting R&D facilities, he observed that engineers could also be stretched too skinny throughout an unlimited array of fashions and derivatives. The top of the world’s largest carmaker suggests the sprawling portfolio may benefit from some trimming:

‘Should you go to a improvement division, you see points akin to an growing variety of completely different specs and variants being created, which in flip is driving up prices. If there are areas inside these actions that aren’t actually value-adding work, or the place work isn’t being performed effectively, then we have to take a better take a look at them.’

Toyota Axes Future EV, Retains 42-Yr-Previous SUV

It’s too early for Toyota to disclose which fashions might get the axe, however we already know the Lexus LF-ZC is not transferring ahead. Plans for the electrical sedan have been shelved as a result of “fluctuations in market demand and the workload related to car planning and manufacturing.” In different phrases, the corporate was involved there wouldn’t be sufficient buyer demand to justify the prices concerned in creating and constructing the luxurious EV.

Toyota’s lineup is fascinatingly advanced, and no mannequin higher illustrates the sheer breadth of its portfolio than one initially launched in 1984. The Land Cruiser 70 Series stays on sale in markets akin to Australia and Japan, albeit with updates to maintain it related. Nonetheless, at its core, it’s nonetheless a 42-year-old SUV, and there’s nothing improper with that. The J70 can go just about anyplace and is virtually indestructible, to not point out it is going to possible outlive its proprietor.

Boosting Hybrid Manufacturing

Having succeeded Koji Sato on April 1, Kenta Kon is simply somewhat over two months into his new position. Past recognizing how the lineup has expanded through the years, Automotive News experiences that the brand new CEO plans to be “making corrections and implementing enhancements” throughout different areas of the enterprise. Growing hybrid car manufacturing capability is without doubt one of the key priorities.

Reuters quotes Toyota’s new chief as saying the corporate received’t be “hitting the brakes out of the blue” in terms of providing a number of powertrain choices. Which means gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and even some diesel fashions will stay a part of the lineup quite than placing all of the proverbial eggs within the EV basket.

Akio Toyoda, who was just lately re-elected chairman by shareholders, famously stated in early 2025 that EVs would by no means exceed a 30-percent share of the worldwide market. As we speak, nevertheless, he believes the business is more and more gravitating towards EVs whereas he finds himself “very alone” among the many few nonetheless championing combustion engines.

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Motor1’s Take: Toyota maintains a cushty lead over the Volkswagen Group within the world gross sales race. Nonetheless, it’s extra of a marathon than a dash, and whole quantity alone isn’t the endgame anyway. Hopefully, any streamlining of the corporate’s huge portfolio received’t have an effect on present and future Gazoo Racing efficiency automobiles, particularly now that the division has been spun off right into a separate brand led by the GR GT.