Toyota commits US$70bil to bolster electrification, shares rally

Zero emission: Toyota workers on the production line of the company’s Motomachi plant in Toyota City, Aichi. The company is keen on developing a battery electric vehicle line-up. ― Bloomberg

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp has committed eight trillion yen (US$70bil or RM296.39bil) to electrify its automobiles by 2030, half of it to develop a battery electric vehicle (BEV) line-up, as it looks to tap a growing market for zero-emission cars.

But the world’s biggest carmaker, which is a relative latecomer to full electric cars, said it expected annual BEVs sales to reach only 3.5 million vehicles by the end of the decade, or around a third of its current vehicle sales.