Toyota's Chinese electric car lightbulb moment

You never know what’s going to bob up in an otherwise dry, sombre, Powerpoint-driven financial results presentation.

A stunning prospect, right? Charts, numbers, trends, profit projections … but then it arrived. A non-financial insight, coughed up by a senior bean-counter.

Often the sniff of a hitherto unknown new model, this time it was a lightbulb moment to the unique demands of the Chinese car market.

Yoichi Miyazaki, Toyota’s Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, was responding to a question from the floor about the brand’s ability to match or better its Chinese EV competitors in their home market.

After a preamble focused on in-house development and production of batteries and the common usage of modular cell packs for BEV and PHEV applications, Miyazaki-san reflected on the idiosyncratic nature of Chinese EV buyers.

He confirmed profitability is now on par with Chinese domestic market EV rivals, but added that it was the nature of the consumer that had at times caught Toyota off-guard.

“When we [Toyota] think about ‘comfort’ it’s in terms of ride performance. But when we look at the needs of the Chinese, comfort is the comfort of sitting in the car.”

2024 Toyota bZ4X

“There are large families, multiple generations often living together and many owners enjoy being in the car — alone. They enjoy their time before going home. 

“They don’t want to run the engine. They want the seat to be comfortable so they can relax,” he said.

And then the driving culture took some getting used to.

“We make cars globally for stability at high speed on highways but Chinese drivers do not speed very much on highways.

2024 Toyota bZ3 (China-market only)

“The way Chinese drivers drive, they're not concerned about that kind of performance,” he added.

Which led to the key insight. “It’s not for Japanese manufacturers to make cars for Chinese people. It’s to help Chinese people making cars for Chinese people.”

Bingo! Just as Toyota has become part of the cultural and commercial landscape in North America, Europe and elsewhere, where it produces models designed and built by people from those markets, the same has to be the case in China.

Which points to a potential shift in the style of its joint-venture operations there. Possibly more unique products developed by Chinese designers and engineers.

So, watch this space for new Chinese-developed Toyotas that may not be quite so focused on dynamic balance and high-speed refinement. And with super comfy seats.