Daihatsu does not have an electric car in production!
Malaysia has a new national car program and it sounds rather strange. Why? Well, the announcement says that it is collaboration between local technology company DreamEDGE and Daihatsu (which is owned by Toyota).
You sure it is an EV?
We thought that this new 3rd national car program was going to be an electric vehicle. Both Toyota and Daihatsu DO NOT have a full electric car program running right now.
On June 6th this year Toyota Motor Corporation and Subaru Corporation announced that they have agreed to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for midsize and large passenger vehicles and to jointly develop a C-segment-class BEV SUV model for sale under each company’s own brand.
By combining their respective strengths, such as the all-wheel-drive technologies that Subaru has cultivated over many years and the vehicle electrification technologies that Toyota is employing to bring together other companies that share its aspirations, the two companies intend to take up the challenge of creating attractive products with appeal that only BEVs can offer.
Reason No. 1. On June 7th Toyota announced that it was accelerating its electric vehicle plans by 5 years and partnering with new battery makers to secure supply as it unveiled images of upcoming all-electric cars.
However, the automaker’s electrification plan is still heavily focused on hybrids instead of all-electric vehicles.
During a briefing with the press, Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi said that the automaker plans for half of its global sales to be electrified vehicles by 2025 – 5 years ahead of previous plans.
Some automakers refer to “electrified vehicles” when talking about electric vehicle plans and they are generally using the term to talk about the mix of hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and all-electric (BEV) vehicles.
Historically, Toyota has looked down on all-electric vehicles and has been focusing a lot on hybrid powered vehicles.
Reason No. 2. Daihatsu has to date only shown concept electric vehicles and one was a commercial van and another a small futuristic sedan which they showed at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show.
