4 month 19 Japan news , Japan's Toyota Motor Company launched the world's most successful hybrid car , But in pure electric vehicles , It also needs to catch up , Especially in the Chinese market .

   Hongguang, a small electric vehicle produced by general motors of the United States and SAIC GM Wuling, a joint venture of China MINI EV, The price is less than 3
Ten thousand yuan , But it is popular in China, the world's largest auto market , Toyota has yet to launch its own small, low-cost electric car in China .

   As the world's largest automobile manufacturer , Toyota will open in 4 month 19 The solution was released at the Shanghai auto show in September , It's called e-TNGA New electric vehicle universal platform , Can help produce small cars to large ones
SUV And so on .

   Two people familiar with Toyota's plan said , The company will also show its products based on e-TNGA Medium electric platform SUV Concept model , The car will be sold worldwide in a few years .

   Toyota executives have long called for small electric vehicles , But the company was the first to launch a medium-sized model SUV
The facts of the world show that , The company is competitive in production , Comfortable and safe small , Low cost electric vehicles still face challenges .

   With the increasing pressure on automobile manufacturers to reduce emissions , Toyota is actively developing products that can compete with Manulife worldwide MINI
EV, Tesla high end car , VW and Renault mid-range models, as well as Weilai and Xiaopeng and other Chinese start-ups' fashionable electric vehicle competition models .

   Although the Toyota Prius hybrid has become a global best seller , But the company developed small electric cars early eQ Our efforts ended in failure . stay 2012 About 100 Vehicles eQ
after , Toyota gave up because of concerns about the limitations of electric vehicles eQ project , For example, the price is high , Short range and long charging time .

  eQ It's Toyota mini iQ The electric version of , price 360 Ten thousand yen ( close 3.3 Million US dollars ), Roughly equivalent to the medium Camry (Camry) The price of .

   cost control

   People familiar with Toyota's plan said , One of the key problems in the development of low-cost small electric vehicles is , An electric assembly system is required ( Including motor , Inverter and gear combination ), This technology has not yet reached the level of gasoline powertrain cost .

   in addition , It's also a challenge to plug bulky batteries into mini cars . Sources said , Many electric cars have high floors , Because you need to stack the batteries underneath , This gives car manufacturers the option to build their cars higher , In order to provide sufficient space for passengers . otherwise , The interior height of the vehicle is too low , Maybe it's not comfortable enough to sit up ..

   Toyota doesn't want to focus on the quality of its small electric cars , Compromise on comfort or performance , But it realized that , It needs to develop expertise to cut engineering costs significantly , The delivery price is much lower than 2 A million dollar car .

   That's what GM is making MINI EV Why , The price of this car may be as low as RMB 28800
element . GM's joint venture, SAIC GM Wuling, is China's largest manufacturer of low-cost commercial trucks , The starting price is about 3 Ten thousand yuan , And use this cost control know-how .

   Consulting company Automotive Foresight Zhang Yu, the person in charge, said :“ Wuling basically can only replace the gasoline engines on commercial trucks with simple electric assemblies .” He expects Hongguang
MINI EV And its high-end makaron version, sales this year will reach 50 Ten thousand .

   Zhou Chuan, SAIC's vice president in charge of Wuling and Baojun brand sales and marketing, said , The company will be in 2022 At the beginning of the year, four brands of small electric vehicles were launched , Make the number of models reach 10
paragraph , In response to more competitors entering the market .

   Toyota challenge

   of course , Low cost also means relatively simple design . for example , Agatsuma Mini EV
There's only one airbag , There is no passenger airbag , Or there are no airbags on the side . in addition , This car has anti lock braking system , But there is no stable control technology , This results in a relatively high cost , Its short and thick shape makes it easy to roll over when turning at high speed .

   In this regard , Zhou explained :“ first , The product meets all vehicle safety requirements in China . secondly , Agatsuma MINI EV
It's basically just a commuter , Help people travel through urban traffic , It is highly unlikely to drive on high speed .”

   Agatsuma Mini EV to 2020 year 7 Launched in June , Cost effective Chinese consumers and young and fashionable urban residents rush to buy about 10
This electric car , Make it one of the best selling electric vehicles in China .

   Many drivers are proud of their great achievements Mini EV Carry out personalized transformation , For example, apply new paint and change into fashionable head and tail lights . Some people even use Wuling stickers and badges to customize other brands of cars , Such as Audi and BMW .

   Carbon integral boost

   Toyota electric SUV It will be its new zero emission vehicle design department ZEV Factory
The first car made in Japan . however , In order to obtain the required low-cost technology , Toyota turned to China's battery and car maker BYD for help through a joint R & D company set up last year . The plan is to use BYD's expertise to manufacture small electric vehicles and key components including batteries .

   But according to a person familiar with Toyota's plans , Toyota still has a good chance to use the e-Axle The electric assembly technology based on DSP , By its subsidiaries BluE Nexus production .

  

   Agatsuma Mini EV
It also played an important role in GM and SAIC , Because it produces the carbon integral . Chinese car manufacturers need to produce enough new energy vehicles (NEV) To earn carbon credits , To offset their production of internal combustion engines . Agatsuma
Mini EV What does success mean , GM and SAIC have room to sell carbon credits to competitors , Or produce more , Bigger , A more luxurious gasoline car , Without punishment .

  Automotive Foresight Zhang Yu also said , Carbon credit system means Hongguang Mini EV
Our pricing is very competitive , So that it's almost unprofitable . Zhou Chuan of SAIC declined to disclose Hongguang Mini EV
Do you make money , It also declined to say how much it made from the sale . He said :“ We see quite a number of companies coming to us , Buy carbon credits from us , But we don't want to reveal who they are .”

   Two sources familiar with Toyota's plans said , The company does not intend to lose money on the retail price of small electric vehicles , We don't plan to use carbon credits to improve our competitiveness . A Toyota spokesman declined to comment on whether Toyota has enough carbon credits for China's new energy vehicles , He also declined to comment on whether he would consider selling the carbon credits as part of his strategy .( Little )

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