While many car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Renault and KIA have announced that they will soon introduce a low-cost electric model, approximately on sale for less than 25,000, Toyota faces reality and makes it known that there is no room in its range for a small and affordable battery-powered car. The hypothesis of seeing the potential electric heir of little Aygo is therefore extinguished: the high cost of battery materials makes a project of this type unviable, at least for the moment.
No electric Aygo
The Japanese automaker reports that its cheapest electric vehicle for the foreseeable future will actually be the production version of the Urban Crossover conceptpotentially on sale at a list price of around 37,000 euros. “Electric cars still have some sort of premium labeling, a substantial change in battery costs before a valuable electric supermini can be produced profitably on a large scale.”the words of Toyota's head of product development, Andrea Carlucci, reported by Autocar.
Defined strategy
Translated, the Urban Crossover concept will represent the entry-level model of Toyota's electric range. There will be no low cost electric vehicle for less than 20,000 euros therefore, “we can't reach that level right now“, added Carlucci. A statement that is valid for the present, but not for the future, given that Carlucci himself admits regarding an electric car costing less than 25,000 euros: “I didn't say we don't need an offering in that segment, I. I'm just looking at where the market is today. I know there is a trend towards a lower price range, which is very obvious. If I look at the most accessible and affordable components on the market, I see that the offer for a battery electric vehicle is limited, therefore we need to look carefully at the price range. I think the narrative around electric cars should shift towards honesty and exactly what the customer would want.”
Not just SUVs
What is certain is that in the future i SUVs they will play a fundamental role within Toyota's electric range, but this does not mean that they will be the only segment on which the Japanese giant will focus in the coming years. “We have models like Yariswhich for me represent the signature of the brand in Europe more than any other car”, concluded Carlucci, suggesting that some icons of the brand will continue to live even in times of electrification. Only time will tell if this will truly be the case.
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