https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/toyota-rav4-ev-sounds-unlikely-hybrid-double-down/
Market conditions aren't ripe for the return of a battery-electric model, a Toyota exec suggests, but the hybrid's future looks bright.
Car fans are still eagerly checking out the 2019 Toyota RAV4 on the floor of the New York Auto Show after its debut last week. While the new generation presents a broader portfolio of flavors, including more distinct Hybrid and Adventure trims, one version that had been sold previously isn't on spinning on the dais under the bright lights: an EV.
That's not surprising -- Toyota hasn't offered a RAV4 EV since 2014 (a model it developed with Tesla) and likely would never reveal a derivative like a battery-electric model at the same time as its mainstream gas and hybrid counterparts.
But it doesn't sound like such a model is forthcoming at all. At a media roundtable last week, Jack Hollis, group vice president and general manager of Toyota North America, gave reason to doubt that a new electric version of the hugely popular SUV is in the works. Despite a sizable number of new EV models headed for the market, Hollis remains concerned that interest among mainstream consumers isn't sufficient to support such a model:
"We gave it [the RAV4 EV] a good run ... there were some learnings there," Hollis said. "But the marketplace, even today, is the marketplace really there? And that's a question for the marketplace still. Is it really there? Or are manufacturers forcing it to be there? Or is a pull versus a push?
Market conditions aren't ripe for the return of a battery-electric model, a Toyota exec suggests, but the hybrid's future looks bright.
Car fans are still eagerly checking out the 2019 Toyota RAV4 on the floor of the New York Auto Show after its debut last week. While the new generation presents a broader portfolio of flavors, including more distinct Hybrid and Adventure trims, one version that had been sold previously isn't on spinning on the dais under the bright lights: an EV.
That's not surprising -- Toyota hasn't offered a RAV4 EV since 2014 (a model it developed with Tesla) and likely would never reveal a derivative like a battery-electric model at the same time as its mainstream gas and hybrid counterparts.
But it doesn't sound like such a model is forthcoming at all. At a media roundtable last week, Jack Hollis, group vice president and general manager of Toyota North America, gave reason to doubt that a new electric version of the hugely popular SUV is in the works. Despite a sizable number of new EV models headed for the market, Hollis remains concerned that interest among mainstream consumers isn't sufficient to support such a model:
"We gave it [the RAV4 EV] a good run ... there were some learnings there," Hollis said. "But the marketplace, even today, is the marketplace really there? And that's a question for the marketplace still. Is it really there? Or are manufacturers forcing it to be there? Or is a pull versus a push?
