WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it will unveil two new electric vehicles that will go on sale next year in the United States amid a growing push by the Biden administration to cut vehicle emissions, sending the Japanese automaker’s shares soaring.
The company also said it expects that 40% of its U.S. sales by 2025 will be hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles, rising to 70% by 2030. One of the new EVs next year will be a sport-utility vehicle and Toyota will also unveil a new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Toyota said in 2017 it would market more than 10 electric vehicles globally in the early 2020s.
The new vehicles for the U.S. market are “the first of many,” Bob Carter, executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America.
“Electrification is the future of this industry. There is no doubt about that,” Carter said. “The only debate we have is that rate of change.”
Toyota forecasts by 2025 that industry sales will be 7% electric vehicles rising to around 15% to 18% in 2030.
In 2020, Toyota sold 337,000 hybrid vehicles in the United States, accounting for 16% of U.S. sales, and hybrids will grow to more than 20% this year as it adds more hybrid versions.
Toyota shares rose more than 5% on the news in New York trading.
There is growing interest in EVs in the industry.
General Motors said last month it was setting an aspirational goal to sell all its new cars, SUVs and light pickup trucks with zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a dramatic shift.
Barra on an earnings call Wednesday expressed optimism about the 2035 goal.
“There’s not one big factor that’s going to hold us up. We have all the assets to achieve this. We’ve got to solve issues and win customers, but I think we’re well positioned to do that,” Barra said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alistair Bell)
