Much like BMW, Toyota has been quite vocal about how the death of the combustion engine should not rush the road to carbon neutrality. He believes there should be a mix of powertrains to allow people to decide what is best for their needs, especially as EV charging infrastructure is still underdeveloped in many parts of the world. More electric cars are coming, but the Japanese automaker hasn’t given up on ICE yet.
In an interview with Australian magazine drive.com.au, the local man in charge of sales and marketing talks about the road to electrification during a round table with reporters at the Corolla Cross Hybrid launch event. Sean Hanley said Toyota is “not against battery-electric vehicles,” but product diversity is the right way to go in the future. He was referring to hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell models. All vehicles will be electrified to some extent by the end of the decade but with one exception – the Gazoo Racing model.
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Indeed, Hanley says that “by 2030 every Toyota in our range, apart from GR performance cars, will have some form of electrification.” The statement comes just weeks after the GR86 chief engineer said there would be no additional GR models other than the Yaris, Corolla, 86, and Supra. Will things continue for the next seven years? Hopefully.
Toyota knows its audience and sticking with the ICE-only powertrain will appeal to enthusiasts looking to buy a performance vehicle. By the way, the six-cylinder GR Corolla finally gets a decent manual gearbox, while the GR Yaris pocket rocket will inherit the powerful engine from the GR Corolla Morizo Edition.
There’s one piece of the GR puzzle we’re missing – What happened to the GR Super Sport? The last time we heard – in September 2021 – a hypercar was a concept and Toyota was studying its “commercialization potential.” Considering what the GR86 chief engineer just said about limiting the GR range to four models, we wouldn’t get our hopes up too high…
