Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to the news on September 26, many investors and environmental groups have said that Toyota Motor Company of Japan is not committed to the development of pure electric vehicles, and the company is more keen to promote its own hybrid technology. Critics say Toyota lags behind its competitors in developing environmentally friendly cars. But recently Toyota has been seeking to reach out to critics of its established policies to explain more of its efforts in electric vehicles and to change their attitudes towards the company.

Nearly a year ago, Toyota promised to spend billions of dollars to expand its line of electric vehicles. But some investors and environmental groups have said Toyota is not committed to developing pure electric vehicles, pointing out that in its statement the company remains cautious about electric vehicles and insists on promoting its own gas-electric hybrid technology.

Toyota's response is to interact more with critics and explore ways to improve the company's image at the environmental level, according to people familiar with the matter. Toyota has said hybrid vehicles are an important transitional technology at a time when charging infrastructure in the United States and many other parts of the world is still inadequate. In terms of market performance, Toyota also sells far more hybrid cars than other automakers.

Toyota's image in environmental protection and electric vehicles has become a more concerned issue for executives such as president Akio Toyoda, according to people familiar with the matter. Last year, Toyota said it would invest 4 trillion yen ($28 billion) in electric vehicle technology over the next decade.

The Danish fund AkademikerPension manages a total of about $19 billion on behalf of academic institutions and school staff. The fund believes that Toyota opposes measures to promote electric vehicles, so it has been fighting with the company for nearly two years.

Earlier this year, AkademikerPension tried to file an application ahead of Toyota's shareholder meeting, proposing that the company disclose more lobbying information about hybrids and fuel vehicles. AkademikerPension said Toyota directly rejected the offer on the grounds that the foundation had already exceeded the deadline by one day to submit its application.

"We've never experienced anything like this before," said Anders Schelde, chief investment officer at AkademikerPension. In response, the foundation publicly posted the questions it wanted to ask online and issued a statement saying that doubts about electric cars "hurt Toyota's brand value and shareholders' interests."

Recently, Toyota invited AkademikerPension to Japan to meet with company executives. Mr. Schelder said he or the foundation's chief executive plans to visit Toyota in the coming months, which will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides.

"We are committed to an open two-way dialogue with investors and other stakeholders to ensure that their views are reflected in the management of our company," a Toyota spokesman said. "

Toyota has also had more interaction with the environmental group Greenpeace (Greenpeace). In the past two years, Greenpeace has ranked Toyota at the bottom of the automotive industry's decarbonization rankings. Toyota has begun to reserve seats for Greenpeace at company events related to electric vehicles and recently invited delegates to attend meetings in person, according to Daniel Read, who works on energy and climate issues at Greenpeace.

Like other traditional carmakers, Toyota is adjusting its decades-old carmaking business to consider how to respond to the challenge and focus more on electric vehicles. Toyota aims to sell about 3.5 million electric vehicles a year by 2030, about 1/3 of its current annual car sales.

In the second quarter of this year, electric vehicles accounted for less than 1% of Toyota's sales, while Germany's Volkswagen, which is closest to Toyota in size, accounted for nearly 6% of the company's total sales.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has been one of the industry's well-known people who are cautious about electric cars. He questioned whether electric cars were as environmentally friendly as advertised and was skeptical of consumers' demand for them.

Toyota says it believes hybrids can also reduce carbon emissions during this period because it will take decades for the world to build the battery supply chain and charging network needed for large-scale electric vehicles. In the most recent quarter, hybrids accounted for nearly 30 per cent of shipments by Toyota and Lexus, helping Toyota meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations in markets such as Europe.

User demand for hybrid vehicles also helped Toyota make a record operating profit of 3 trillion yen ($21 billion) in its most recent fiscal year. Toyota's share price has performed quite well recently, down just 9% so far this year, less than other carmakers.

Mr. Toyoda has been trying to figure out why some investors and environmental groups don't believe Toyota's electrification strategy. Mr. Toyoda has appointed a consultant to consult influential people in the US and European auto industries about Toyota's efforts in electric vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter. figure out why Toyota has not won the same praise as other carmakers. They say the feedback will be sent directly to Akio Toyoda.

Unlike GM and Ford, Toyota has not yet set a date for all its cars to achieve zero carbon emissions worldwide, which is the crux of the problem for some investors.

"the conversations are constructive, but they don't have any particularly surprising news about changing behavior," said Michael Garland, the assistant auditor in charge of corporate governance and responsible investment at the New York City Audit Office, which oversees the operation of New York City public pension funds. "We get more responses from GM and Ford in terms of corporate behavior."

A Toyota spokesman said the company hopes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as soon as possible and plans to provide customers with various types of electric vehicles as well as cars with other powertrains.

In addition to AkademikerPension, the Danish fund, investors such as the Church of England Pension Committee, AP7, the Swedish pension fund and Storebrand, the Nordic asset manager, have said they are unhappy with Toyota's environmental lobbying activities.

As of September, Akademiker, AP7 and Storebrand held more than $250 million in Toyota shares, minuscule compared to the company's total market capitalization of more than $200 billion. The Church of England Pensions Committee did not disclose the size of its stake.

Toyota insiders say public relations experts and others at the company have advised executives not to make negative comments about electric vehicles, but to emphasize the benefits of electric vehicles and Toyota's heavy investment in electric vehicle technology.

Sage Advisory Services, an investment management company based in Austin, Texas, also holds Toyota's corporate bonds. Agency executives said they had noticed a change in wording.

Sage Advisory vice president Emma Harper (Emma Harper) said the company contacted Toyota last year about Toyota's position on electric vehicles, and Toyota responded with its consistent tone, and the company's view on hybrid vehicles is no different from that in the past. Harper says she can figure out these ideas herself, but it's hard for the public to understand.

Recently, she said Toyota had "undergone earth-shaking changes, and they have felt the change in the whole trend, as well as the personal experience of consumers, politicians and other stakeholders in the transition from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles."

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