This Announcement from Toyota Sent Shares Exploding

Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. were rallying this week after the auto maker announced that it has committed a staggering $70 billion to bolster electrification.

The company said it has committed 8 trillion yen ($70 billion) to electrify its automobiles by 2030, half of it to develop a battery electric vehicle (BEV) line-up, as it looks to tap a growing market for zero-emission cars.

Toyota said however that it expected annual BEVs sales to reach only 3.5 million vehicles by the end of the decade, or around a third of its current vehicle sales.

Even with that said, Toyota and group companies Toyota Tsusho and Denso rallied on Wednesday, leading gains on the benchmark Nikkei 225 index.
Toyota advanced 4.06% while Toyota Tsusho and Denso jumped 4.81% and 4.44%, respectively.

The electric vehicle boom is in full affect with eager eyes watching many EV related stocks such as Tesla. Tesla’s market value reached over $1 trillion in October, surpassing the combined value of Toyota, VW, Daimler AG, Ford Motor and General Motors Co.

Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo surrounded by more than a dozen planned BEV models, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said Toyota was still pursuing a multi-pronged, carbon-reduction strategy that also includes hybrid cars and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

“We want to leave all people with a choice, and rather than where or what we will focus on, we will wait a little longer until we understand where the market is going,” the company said.

Toyota’s plan to introduce a full line-up of 30 BEV’s by 2030 goes beyond the 15 models the Japanese auto maker earlier said it would have available by 2025.

Toyota also said it planned to invest 2 trillion yen in battery production by 2030, up from the 1.5 trillion yen it announced earlier.

That investment includes $1.29 billion for a new battery plant in North Carolina that will begin production in 2025.

In November, Toyota had declined to join a pledge signed by six major carmakers, including GM and Ford to phase out fossil fuel cars by 2040.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.