VW and Toyota at LA Autoshow

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There are two articles: VW, Toyota Place Different EV Wagers | WardsAuto

VW Touts Its SUV Sales, But Vows to Stay in Car Market

LOS ANGELES – Despite Volkswagen’s belated arrival to the SUV party, it is making up for lost time, says Scott Keogh, the new CEO of Volkswagen of America.

He adds, however, that the German automaker has no plans to bail out of the car market, despite its waning sales.
. . .
“We arrived late to the SUV game, but we see our rightful share growing,” Keogh says.

But he then cites the Jetta compact sedan as a “great entry-level vehicle for young buyers.”

VW, Toyota Place Different EV Wagers

Toyota and Volkswagen are both involved in electric-vehicle development, yet they pursue strikingly different strategies.

VW is going all in with EVs, planning to introduce a cadence of them, from passenger cars to commercial trucks and vans.
. . .
Toyota is betting conservatively on EVs. It is investing in R&D for EVs and other internal-combustion-engine propulsion alternatives, such as fuel-cell systems.

Toyota is big on hybrid vehicles powered by combined gasoline-electric systems.

But unlike VW, Toyota has no determined plans to go to market with purely electric-powered vehicles.

Why not? Because it doesn’t see consumer interest in them. At least not now. EVs currently on the market – such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla models – make up only 1.24% of the U.S. vehicle market.
. . . ​

Bob Wilson
 
VW is the Wells Fargo of the auto industry. Great marketing, love the press releases... but no substance. For the last two years they've shown the prototype ID Cruzz at the LA Auto show. I fully expect them to do the same this year. When will they actually be selling these vehicles?

Toyota- Got nothing to talk about.
 
silversod said:
Just been reading the news today that Volkswagen are to stop building on all petrol/diesel combustion engines from 2026. stating that the corporation would see its future in the electric drive.
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Sounds wonderful. I wish I could believe that this is more real than the rest of VW's EV vaporware. But it would be foolish to think this is genuinely what VW plans.
​
 
To even announce something like this is a pretty big deal. I know there's lots of skepticism around VW's electric commitment, but this sure looks like a burning bridge.
 
Toyota has had it’s much touted fuel cell marque, the Mirai, on market for almost 4 years now, and how much progress is it making? Even only being available in CA, has any progress made been in all this time in expanding hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure? Anyone with knowledge or insight on this?
 
Toyota has a new fuel cell stack that significantly reduces the amount of platinum required.

Toyota intends to offer new FC vehicles now that they’ve lowered the build cost by a few thousand dollars.

As far as infrastructure expansion, no major new other than one hydrogen supplier in Norway shutting down. Outside of Japan, Norway seemed to be the only othe country to make a hydrogen push. But now it’s going backwards.
 
Domenick said:
To even announce something like this is a pretty big deal. I know there's lots of skepticism around VW's electric commitment, but this sure looks like a burning bridge.
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This is the piece I was reading. https://www.electrive.com/2018/12/04/volkswagen-to-stop-building-on-fossil-fuel-engines-from-2026/
I wonder how something like this would effect car trade in values!

Pushmi-Pullyu said:
Sounds wonderful. I wish I could believe that this is more real than the rest of VW's EV vaporware. But it would be foolish to think this is genuinely what VW plans.
​
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From what I read in that piece they will not develop combustion engines after that date.

"This is also in line with their latest strategy. Just two weeks ago Volkswagen announced a 44 billion euro investment in future technologies by 2023 with about 3/4, that is 30 billion euros reserved for e-mobility alone"
 
2026 is still far away, they may change their minds if the demand for ICE cars and hybrids is still big enough.

But yeah, it's a nice message and more people will start to look at alternatives.
 
Gasper said:
2026 is still far away, they may change their minds if the demand for ICE cars and hybrids is still big enough.

But yeah, it's a nice message and more people will start to look at alternatives.
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The thing is! the EU has stated that car tailpipe emissions have to be reduced by a further 30% by 2030 in Europe, UK's emissions are to be reduced even more by 50% by 2030.
 
That is CO2 emissions, meaning fuel consumption. I don't see such a big problem in reducing it by 30% in next 11 years. You can do that by selling only ~15% BEV, ~20% PHEVs and still 65% of conventional vehicles, that are ~10% more efficient than today.

Regulations for car companies that will sell a fair proportion of EVs are not strict at all.
 
silversod said:
This is the piece I was reading. https://www.electrive.com/2018/12/04/volkswagen-to-stop-building-on-fossil-fuel-engines-from-2026/
I wonder how something like this would effect car trade in values!
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I don't think it will affect trade-in values for some time. They'll keep selling internal combustion cars after 2026 for a few years I imagine. 2030 (or soon after) could see them without internal combustion in their lineup.

But to your point, eventually, trade-in values will take a hit, making internal combustion cars even less desirable.
 
baf07 said:
Even only being available in CA, has any progress made been in all this time in expanding hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure? Anyone with knowledge or insight on this?
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A couple of days ago I checked progress with the California board pushing fuel cell station expansion. They announced allocating $8m for additional stations. However, my understanding is each station costs ~$2m ... four stations, a 10% increase.

Bob Wilson
 
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