Toyota introduced two new concepts for cars that it wants to sell in the region later this decade, in addition to a battery electric vehicle (EV) that the company is now selling in Europe and a compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) concept that it previously unveiled last year.
According to Toyota comments, one was a concept for a battery-powered small SUV that the company intends to introduce in Europe in 2024, while the other was a design for a sports crossover model that would debut in 2025.
By 2026, Toyota hopes to have sold 1.5 million battery-powered cars annually worldwide.
According to figures released last month by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, sales of completely electric vehicles in the European Union (EU) increased by more than half during the first ten months of this year when compared to the same period last year.
According to the data, Toyota saw a modest reduction in its share from the previous year to just under 7% during the 10 months ending in October, making it the fifth-biggest overall auto market share in the EU.
Throughout the first ten months of the year, Toyota sold approximately 8.5 million cars globally, including luxury Lexus models. Of those sales, battery-powered vehicles made up 1% of the total.
In an effort to commercialise the technology, Toyota has announced that it will establish a business unit dedicated to hydrogen in Europe. The company plans to create fuel-cell systems and facilitate commercial collaborations for the technology.
Following comments made by Toyota executives in July that the business would concentrate on selling trucks and automobiles driven by hydrogen in China and Europe, the announcement was made.
Similar to an electric car, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle has an electric motor but gets its power from a fuel stack where hydrogen is separated from oxygen by a catalyst to generate electricity. Approximately 3,500 fuel-cell cars were sold by Toyota worldwide between January and October.
Daniel Leussink and Mariko Katsumura reported, and Lisa Shumaker and Jamie Freed edited.
