And they should be. Toyota spent so long fighting against EVs instead of embracing them that they could become irrelevant in less than 20 years.

China is heavily subsidizing their EV production. US and Japanese car makers are sitting on their hands and bitching to their government to keep the Chinese vehicles out.

I’d still buy a Toyota/Lexus over a similarly priced BYD just because of the reliability track record of Toyota

Toyota who got famous for being agile and lean and making just in time manufacturing and continuously improving every aspect of the business.

They then basically run a real world experiment and start fucking around with electric (well hybrid) cars. The results of which are positive, they sell very well, get a lot of publicity and good reviews.

And what do they do. Ignore their entire philosophy, all their data, everything the company is built and and decide “the way we have always done it is best”.

Ohno Taiichi must be rolling in his grave.

Toyota fucked themselves.

But if capitalism shows us anything its that if the big companies don’t adapt and change quickly some small start up is going to blow them out of the water and make them cease to exist.