Toyota joins the extended-range EV race, but not as you’d expect — SkimNews
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- Toyota will produce its first extended-range EV in China beginning Spring 2027, targeting 200,000 units in 2027 and roughly 400,000 in 2028, per Nikkei
- Toyota is positioning EREVs — which use a small gas engine to recharge the battery — as a premium alternative to BEVs to sidestep China's intensifying battery-EV price war, since conventional hybrids are excluded from China's new energy vehicle incentives
- A Toyota executive warned that "competition in China is intensifying as the market fixates on battery EVs, leading to price wars," adding the company "needs to take steps to avoid being dragged into that competition"
- Toyota sold approximately 200,000 BEVs and 180,000 plug-in hybrids globally in 2025
- The GAC-Toyota bZ3X electric SUV starts at 94,800 yuan (~$14,000), was the best-selling joint-venture NEV in China through August, and uses nearly 90% Chinese-sourced parts — including BYD batteries and Momenta autonomous-driving software
Why it matters: Toyota is conceding it can't win China's BEV price war and is using EREVs as a margin hedge rather than a volume play. The deeper signal buried in the article: the bZ3X already runs on ~90% Chinese parts including BYD batteries and Momenta software, meaning Toyota's China strategy depends on the very domestic supply chain that priced foreign brands out of the low end in the first place.
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