Here’s how Toyota is financing its electric car plans
To economically support the electric turnaround, Toyota will reduce its stake in the number two company in the world in car components, Denso, from the current 24.2% to 20%, selling approximately 125 million shares on the market for 1.8 billion euros
Although Japan, thanks to Toyota's R&D commitment years ago, was a pioneer of electric technology (just think of the Prius), the Japanese company at the top of the sales charts, it is known, has never loved electric cars too much, to put it mildly. Or rather, it has never loved rules that made it the sole driving force behind the ecological transition. In fact, there are countless times when the CEO of Toyota, Akio Toyoda , in his dual role as managing director of the company that produces the most cars in the world and head of the automotive association of car manufacturers in the nation of the Land of the Rising Sun, with his vitriolic statements made the detractors of electric mobility happy. At the end of October, commenting on the decline in demand for electric cars during the Japan Mobility Show, he lashed out at mobility supporters: "People are finally starting to see things as they are."
THE FINANCING OF ELECTRIFICATION
Like it or not, electrification is still taking place. And Toyota, albeit reluctantly, has also launched a very ambitious industrial plan, which aims to reduce the delay accumulated by rivals who immediately believed in the transition.
The Japanese giant in fact wants to remain the leading manufacturer in the world, with the aim of selling 1.5 million fully electric vehicles by 2026 and 3.5 million by 2030. To achieve these goals, however, considerable investments and resources are needed .
TOYOTA BEATS CASH
So, to financially support the turning point, the Japanese brand will reduce its shares in other companies. Last July Toyota announced the sale of shares worth 250 billion yen (1.5 billion euros at current exchange rates) in the Japanese telecommunications operator Kddim while now it is the turn of the number two company in the world in car components, Dense. The program is to decrease from the current 24.2% to 20%, selling approximately 125 million shares on the market.
There had been talk about it for some time, rumors strengthened by the fact that they had never been denied. And in fact in the last few hours the operation has been made official. In the meantime, Denso, as announced by the company itself, will proceed with the repurchase of approximately 200 billion yen (equal to 1.2 billion euros) of its shares between December this year and April 2024. According to analysts, the sale of 4.2% of Denso should bring approximately 287 billion yen, equal to 1.8 billion euros, into Toyota's coffers.
TOYODA'S SHOTS ON THE EV CAR
The deal between Toyota and Denso is important. As are the various statements released by the man behind the wheel of the Japanese company. Even recently, speaking to industrialists in his country, Toyota CEO Toyoda said: “Japan is dependent on exports, therefore, carbon neutrality equates to an employment problem for the country. Some politicians say we need to turn all cars into electric vehicles or that the manufacturing industry is obsolete, but I don't think that's the case. To protect jobs and consequently also the lives of Japanese people, I think it is necessary to look to our future by working in the right direction so far".
In 2021, CEO Toyoda again supported his thesis on the need to proceed with a more reasoned and less sudden ecological transition by the fact that Japan produces around 10 million vehicles a year, of which around 50% is exported : well, forecasts assume that the Japanese industry can produce 8 million vehicles a year only with the contribution of combustion engines, including hybrids and PHEVs, even in 2030, while their elimination by law will paralyze the job market.
“This means that production of 8 million units would be lost and the industry could risk having to shed most of the 5.5 million jobs,” Toyoda warned. “If internal combustion engines are the enemy, we will probably no longer be able to produce almost all the vehicles we assemble today with all the negative consequences that this situation would have for our economy.”
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/ecco-come-toyota-finanzia-i-suoi-piani-per-lauto-elettrica-denso/ on Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:54:59 +0000.