"Electric cars are expensive, don't kid yourself": Toyota Australia plans three EVs in three years

Toyota Australia today confirmed its foray into the battery-electric car world will kick off with three EVs over the next three years, starting with the delayed bZ4X.

Originally, the bZ4X was due to be here sooner, but Toyota Australia vice-president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley today announced to media the electric car would arrive later so the brand could “secure supply and the latest spec”.

But while the bZ4X will, according to Mr Hanley, arrive “in a reasonable launch volume based on our market size”, we shouldn’t expect to see it sitting on the affordable end of the electric car market.

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“Battery electric cars are expensive, don't kid yourself,” Mr Hanley told journalists.

“They are expensive to build if you want quality, safety, performance, range… they are expensive.”

Mr Hanley cites dramatically rising lithium prices - for EV batteries - as a major factor, which an Australian government report published in December says could average AUD$87,000 per tonne in 2023 before reducing to about $67,000 as mining catches up with demand.

But while the hopes of a Toyota EV to rival cheap models like the BYD Atto 3 aren’t coming to fruition any time soon, Mr Hanley says the price disparity between ICE and electric cars will drop over the next several years, comparing it to the proliferation of Toyota’s own hybrid cars over the past couple of decades.

“Starting with the bZ4X, we will launch at least three EVs in the space of three years with more in the pipeline,” he said.

“We will continue to evaluate all EVs for this market as they’re made available, and one of the EVs we expect to examine closely for Australia will be based on the stunning bZ compact SUV revealed in November.”

Toyota bZ SUV Concept

But Toyota isn’t looking for volume yet, with Mr Hanley telling CarsGuide that building trust in Toyota’s EVs is more important than cashing in on sales.

“What's important about bZ4X is it's our first launch of a full battery electric vehicle into the Australian market," he said.

“So safety, quality, reliability, durability, and building trust around that car is what's most important to us, not speed to market. And certainly not volume, because [the shift to] BEVs is a once in a lifetime, generational change. 

“So therefore, you've got to think of it more long term. You can't think of it as, ‘I'm gonna do this because I want to sell a load of cars quickly’.”

Mr Hanley expects Toyota’s sales volume to be “in their thousands within a few short years, and ultimately in the tens of thousands”.

In the meantime, he says Toyota’s “sales share from electrified vehicles will jump to more than 50 per cent by 2025, and possibly quite a bit higher”.

Toyota’s hybrid cars made up 31.5 per cent of its 2022 sales, about 72,000 out of 231,050.