Toyota targets North America with hybrid models

Akio Toyoda expects electric vehicles to never account for more than 30% of total new car sales

Toyota is a pioneer in hybrid powertrains, and even as much of the industry has shifted its focus to electric vehicles, the Japanese brand is doubling down on electrically assisted internal combustion engines.

In January, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said the global share of electric vehicles would only reach 30%, and Toyota believes a “multi-path” approach is the best way to go, including hybrid vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles, electric vehicles and green fuels.

Read: The 2025 Toyota Camry Hybrid turns its strengths into a more attractive configuration

David Christ, Toyota’s head of North American sales and marketing, recently revealed in an interview with Reuters that Toyota may convert its entire product line to hybrid models.

“Going forward, we plan to evaluate each model individually for suitability for a full hybrid model,” he said. Toyota will evaluate each model as it is redesigned and determine whether it should be sold exclusively as an electric vehicle, Reuters has learned.

The model most likely to go full hybrid is the RAV4. The model is due for an overhaul in 2026, and around 50% of sales are currently hybrids, so it would be logical to go the all-electric route.

Toyota is likely to drop the ICE version of the RAV4 in North America, according to two anonymous sources, though a final decision has not yet been made. If the RAV4 goes that route, it will follow the example of the new Camry and only offer a hybrid version.

Christ noted that it may take longer to convert vehicles such as pickup trucks and economy cars to hybrids because consumers are concerned about price.

Executives at the Japanese brand believe producing more hybrids will allow it to save billions of dollars in regulatory fines and costs while allowing more time to develop pure electric vehicles.

Hybrids accounted for 37% of Toyota’s North American sales through the first half of this year, and Christ believes that will exceed 50% of total sales next year. A greater focus on plug-in hybrids will also allow Toyota to benefit from U.S. emissions regulations, which provide huge subsidies to reduce pollution.

Further helping the brand is its battery factory in North Carolina, which will have 14 production lines and produce up to 30 gigawatt-hours of batteries per year by 2030.