Earlier this week, six automakers made the commitment towards phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040 as part of global efforts to cut carbon emissions and curb global warming. The six automakers who signed the Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Cars and Vans at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) summit in Scotland were Volvo, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover and BYD.
However, many automakers were missing from the list, including Toyota and Volkswagen, the two largest carmakers in the world. Players such as Stellantis, Honda, Nissan and BMW were also absent, and it was reported that the no-show from key goverments was a primary reason why most carmakers held off from committing. China, the United States and Germany did not sign the declaration.
It isn’t the only reason why, as Reuters reports. Toyota says that large parts of the world are not ready for zero-emission vehicles, which is why it didn’t sign the pledge. A Toyota spokesperson told the news agency that the company was committed to reducing CO2 emissions where the energy and charging infrastructure, economics and customer readiness exist, being “ready to accelerate and help support with appropriate zero-emission vehicles.”
“However, in many areas of the world such as Asia, Africa, Middle East, an environment suitable for promoting full zero emission transport has not yet been established. We think it will take more time to make progress, thus, it is difficult for us to commit to the joint statement at this stage,” the spokesperson said.
The Japanese automaker has previously stated similar sentiments about the matter, saying that it is still too early to focus solely on electric vehicles (EVs). In September, Toyota president Akio Toyoda said that a wider view is necessary in the mission of reducing the carbon footprint. “In pursuing carbon neutrality, carbon is our enemy, not the internal combustion engine. To reduce carbon, I believe there should be practical and sustainable solutions that fit the circumstances of each country and region,” he explained.
Last month, it repeated the message, stating that a diversity of drivetrains was necessary in order to give customers different tools – such as hybrids as well as fuel-cell vehicles – to reduce CO2 output, and the task should be focused on reducing carbon emissions instead of choosing which technology is the best way to achieve those goals.
Volkswagen also said the tempo of EV adoption would “vary from region to region,” and its CEO Herbert Diess dismissed the zero-emission pledge. “”It could still make sense to use synthetic fuel cars in Latin America in 2035,” he said at a conference on Wednesday.
Earlier, BMW had indicated a similar tone when it explained why it would not sign the declaration. “There remains considerable uncertainty about the development of global infrastructure to support a complete shift to zero emission vehicles, with major disparities across markets,” the automaker said.
It has to be noted that none of the carmakers is against phasing out emissions, but each has its reservations – and objection – on the totality of the declaration.
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Wise move from many brands. Should not sell EV immediately
Agreed.
Toyota speaking like our mentri, or rather our mentri speaking like Toyota?
So to reply Toyota with these comments here:
[Let them talk.We want to see ” concrete ” action.
A parrot also can talk,but what has been achieved?]
[This guy arr…plan this, plan that…everywhere he goes, no good end product ever comes out, really. Always answer in general terms with no detailed plan because I don’t think he actually knows what he is doing, nor actually care.]
Let it be known that Toyota is a multibillion dollar company while these commenters are just faceless people on the internet.
Every country incl jepunis can decide their own. So no problem..
You are not ready or others?
This is not only Toyota. Others are not ready as well. Thats why most of the brands are not deciding towards to electrified vehicles
In 2007 you hear Nokia defending their Symbian software and failed to notice the rise of full touchscreen phone. And here is Toyota’s Nokia moement.
I think it was Nokia or/and Blackberry that said nobody want a phone without keypad when the first i-Phone was launched. Toyota is sounding strangely similar …
Remember Apple and their project Titan car or Dyson and their EV plan? Yep, nothing to show yet despite many years in development and Dyson pulled the plug citing too costly to invest. Developing a vehicle to meet global standards isn’t the same as developing a phone or a vacuum cleaner.
Proton, under Geely also commits to saving the environment.
Meanwhile Perodua under Toyota also commits to continue polluting the environment.
EV is not fully ready yet. Even, distance travel have shorter distance.
Ya, keep finding excuses, when there’s no turning back from temperature rise only realized… Not only current generation going to suffer but future too. Why CP26 making such call ? Caused you and me already feel how devastating the climate changes, take Kuwait for instance, noon time onwards, totally couldn’t do any activity outdoor. it’s now or never…
More like they’re not ready
EV has disadvantages and gets chemical sources for battery. Need to more time to transform into EV
everybody knows T brand is under duress of fossil fuel syndicate
You will never know what happen in future. Toyota will be slowly moving toward electrify vehicles, same can be said for many brands
Even many brands are not deciding towards electrify vehicles. There are so many disadvantages including distance range is quite short and not enough charging station
try driving an ev in kelantan. good luck.
EV zealots oblivious to the fact that their batteries are killing the planet when the time comes to dispose it with those hazardous materials used to make their batteries and power generated to charge their vehicles are coming from coal plants in some parts of the world.
Furthermore many clowns who comment here and everywhere else also fail to see the rest of the world not ready to embrace the shift. Talking about Nokia phones as if it’s that cheap to purchase a vehicle compared to a phone and let’s not start on the super costly infrastructure to setup nationwide just to charge these EVs. If it was that easy, our country or any other country would have long laid the charging infrastructure, no? Better go back to school and learn some common sense before commenting.
Those who think that electric cars are not the future are FOOLS of pure hatred and bias. I will buy a fully loaded Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition anyway.
Electric cars are the future, yes. However, it is still long way to go to complete full stages by selling new electric cars with improvements.
Need to look at the statistic of EV sold in Malaysia. Its already been sold and wonder why people buy knowing the infrastructure is still lag. The growth rate will tell us where it will be heading. Malaysia govern seem to e courage EV too with incentive. Car maker definitely do not want to miss the boat to sell EV when more people choose it. I see both type of car will be available for a long time until one outrun the other and naturally phased out. Life will find its way. EV will find a place in this world.