Toyota's First Electric Vehicle to be Made Under Lexus Brand, Says Automaker's New Head

Toyota's next-generation electric vehicles will be affordable, fast, and efficient than current-gen of EVs, and it will don a Lexus badge first.

Toyota’s chief Akio Toyoda’s reign will now be taken over by Koji Sato - the current President of Lexus, after the demise of Toyoda. Sato will take the position of President and CEO of Toyota from April 1, and the Lexus chief has recently made a big announcement about the brand’s electrification strategy. At a press conference, Sato revealed that Toyota will sell its first-ever electric car with the Lexus badge and not the Toyota moniker. Well, this will be just one part of the carmaker’s electrification strategy. Toyota has been criticised for its slow and dull approach for producing and selling cars, and this statement boosts the confidence of buyers to some extent.

Alongside, Toyota will rejig its current EV portfolio, which includes the bZ4X SUV. Also, the Japanese carmaker’s e-TNGA platform will soon be seen on the Lexus RZ 450e SUV. This architecture also underpins the Subaru Solterra EV. While the brand will focus on its electrification strategy now, it will continue to focus on strong hybrid powertrains as well. However, Toyota’s Lexus-badged next-generation electric vehicles will be modern and efficient, keeping away from the issues of slow and expensive EVs. Thus, it is safe to assume that Toyota's next-generation electric car models will be affordable and fast.

Talking about the Indian market, the company is focussing on strong hybrids as of now. The launch of the Toyota Urban Cruiser embarked the journey to offer affordable hybrid cars to the Indian audience; the course was then joined by the Toyota Innova Hycross. Both of these products use strong-hybrid powertrains, making them deliver more to the buyers. In fact, the company’s ladder-frame SUV - Toyota Fortuner, is also expected to be launched with a hybrid power plant in its next-generation rendition. Besides, the company is sharing its strong-hybrid powertrain options with India’s largest automaker - Maruti Suzuki,