The Message Behind Toyota's Big Hybrid Achievement In Indiana

Forbes

7 hours ago

It has already been 30 years since Toyota debuted a hybrid concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show; testing following a year later. The very first Prius launched in Japan at the end of 1997, and the model became a symbol of fuel efficiency into the new millennium.
Today, the words 'hybrid' and 'Toyota' are tightly intertwined. Listen and you'll hear the spaceship sounds of a Toyota hybrid rolling down the road with its distinct tone. Seventeen of the brand's models are hybrids, including the popular RAV4 (offered only as a hybrid for 2026 models). Its hybrids have been performing very well for Toyota.
'Toyota's stubborn focus on hybrids over EVs is part of a broader challenge by the world's biggest automaker to the prevailing industry and regulatory orthodoxy that all cars will be electric in the near future,' reported Reuters in August 2024.
Indeed, Toyota chairman (and grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda) Akio Toyoda has been often criticized by the media for the brand's slow approach to all-electric vehicles. Then the market for EVs started showing signs of slowing down, and the current administration's determination to eliminate the federal tax credit for EVs started to alter the trajectory of the battery-electric vehicle uptake. As it turns out, Toyota's approach to hybrids may have been the smartest move for them.
In January and February, Toyota's U.S. sales rose 20 percent, powered by an 83 percent rise in sales of its hybrids and plug-in models.
'We're not saying EVs are not a good solution to carbon emissions,' Jack Hollis, executive vice president of Toyota North America told the New York Times in 2024. 'They are. They're just not the only solution, and a lot of our customers have been telling us they want choice — hybrids, plug-ins, and EVs.'
Toyota Sienna hybrid on the line in Indiana.
Toyota
At Toyota's Princeton, Indiana plant on the southwest side of the state, the automaker's one millionth hybrid just rolled off the line on June 12. The facility employs 7,650 Toyota employees and they have been building the all-hybrid Sienna at the Indiana site since 2003. Going forward, the Princeton plant will prepare for assembly of an all-new, three row battery electric SUV.
Toyota says Sienna sales were up more than 95 percent year-over-year in May. In total, its electrified lineup accounted for nearly half of Toyota's sales volume that month, indicting a solid appetite for fuel-sipping vehicles. The Sienna gets an impressive 36 mph combined rating from the EPA, and it's a comfortable family hauler for short and long trips alike.
With current tariff fluctuations in the auto market giving automakers figurative whiplash, Toyota's Indiana plant is representative of the strong presence the brand has in the U.S. Including its new battery plant in North Carolina, Toyota has 11 manufacturing plants in the U.S. and a massive campus at its North American headquarters in Plano, Texas.
As America figures out where it wants to be in terms of BEV charging infrastructure, cars, and energy, Toyota is hedging its bets wisely.