Toyota goes head-to-head with China on affordable smart EVs

Toyota sold almost 1.8 million vehicles in China through 2024, making it second only to the US as the automaker’s largest global market. However, its full-year report recorded a 6.9% decline in Chinese sales, and consumers’ swift adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will have almost certainly been a factor. Toyota has generally adopted a conservative attitude to electrification, favouring hybrids to BEVs. Now, that stance might have to soften further.