{"id":1809,"date":"2025-04-30T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/?p=1809"},"modified":"2025-04-30T16:49:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:49:34","slug":"toyoda-shuts-down-ev-sports-cars-prefers-smells-and-sounds-of-gas-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/toyoda-shuts-down-ev-sports-cars-prefers-smells-and-sounds-of-gas-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyoda Shuts Down EV Sports Cars, Prefers Smells And Sounds Of Gas Anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image lazyload\" alt=\"\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px\" loading=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/KB1_1267-1-copy-1024x576-1.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<ul>\n<li>Akio Toyoda suggested that the future GR lineup will likely exclude electric sports cars.<\/li>\n<li>The chairman and master driver favors the sound and smell of gasoline engines over EVs.<\/li>\n<li>An electric GR model could arrive only if Toyota is able to offer it at an affordable price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Toyota GR is on track to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2025\/03\/toyota-is-readying-a-bevy-of-sports-cars-developed-by-gazoo-racing\/\">offer one of the most exciting sports car lineups<\/a> among mainstream automakers, but it looks like none of them will be fully electric. Chairman Akio Toyoda made it clear that his definition of a sports car is &ldquo;something with the smell of gasoline and a noisy engine,&rdquo; which means electric powertrains are off the table for Gazoo Racing, at least for the near future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placement\">\n<div id=\"82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\tvar adpushup = window.adpushup  = window.adpushup || {que:[]};<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tadpushup.que.push(function() {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tif (adpushup.config.platform !== &#8220;DESKTOP&#8221;){<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t} else {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Toyoda, &nbsp;grandson of Toyota Motor Corp. founder Kiichiro Toyoda, who has earned the unofficial title of &ldquo;master driver&rdquo;, holds the final say on what makes a Lexus a Lexus and a Toyota a Toyota. Under his leadership, the Japanese automaker has undergone a transformation, becoming a brand that genuinely cares about driving enthusiasts. <\/p>\n<p><strong>More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2025\/02\/toyota-gr-promises-combustion-engines-and-manual-gearboxes-for-a-long-long-time\/\">Toyota GR Will Keep Gas Engines And Manuals Alive For A &ldquo;Long, Long Time&rdquo;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He&rsquo;s brought Toyota back to the top of motorsports while sprinkling some rally-car magic into production models like the GR Yaris and GR Corolla. With the upcoming debuts of an MR2 successor, a revived Celica, and a GR-branded supercar, Toyoda recently shared his thoughts on the future of performance EVs.<\/p>\n<div id=\"taboola-mid-article\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"taboola-mid-article-thumbnails-organic\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>No Electric Dreams, For Now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autonews.com\/toyota\/an-toyota-akio-toyoda-centennial-award-interview-qa-0428\/\"><em>Auto News<\/em><\/a>, Toyoda was asked whether he could imagine a future where Toyota builds an electric sports car or race car. His response was as classic as you&rsquo;d expect: &ldquo;There will always be people inside Toyota passionate about developing electric sports cars. But for me as the master driver, my definition of a sports car is something with the smell of gasoline and a noisy engine.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carscoops-Toyota-Concept.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image-block\"> <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazy \" src=\"\" alt=\" Toyoda Shuts Down EV Sports Cars, Prefers Smells And Sounds Of Gas Anyway\" width=\"2450\" height=\"1633\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carscoops-Toyota-Concept-1024x683.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image\" \/><figcaption>2023 Toyota FT-Se Concept<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>        <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>These comments pretty much crush any hopes of seeing a production version of the electric<a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2023\/10\/toyota-ft-se-concept-is-a-sexy-sports-car-for-the-carbon-neutral-era\/\">Toyota FT-Se concept from 2023<\/a>, which many thought might preview a new generation of the discontinued MR2. Toyota has been keeping the MR2 revival rumors alive with a mid-engined GR Yaris prototype, but instead of an electric powertrain, it&rsquo;s packing the upcoming turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An Electric Sports Car Needs to Be Affordable<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placement\">\n<div id=\"9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<div id=\"bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\tvar adpushup = window.adpushup  = window.adpushup || {que:[]};<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tadpushup.que.push(function() {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tif (adpushup.config.platform !== &#8220;DESKTOP&#8221;){<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t} else {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Despite his preference for gas-engines, Toyoda hasn&rsquo;t completely closed the door on EVs. He conceded that if the right conditions come together, an electric sports car could eventually make sense. But there&rsquo;s a catch: it has to be affordable. &ldquo;Toyota is a mass-production brand, so we also need to think about affordability, even with BEVs,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Once Toyota has the capacity to offer affordable BEVs, then maybe that&rsquo;s a moment when I, as a master driver, will be introducing a BEV sports car.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2025\/04\/toyotas-new-electric-flagship-sedan-takes-a-swipe-at-tesla-model-s\/\">Toyota&rsquo;s New Electric Flagship Sedan Takes A Shot At Tesla Model S<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The master driver isn&rsquo;t exactly sold on electric race cars, at least not yet. He pointed out that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/tag\/racing\">racing<\/a> EVs are &ldquo;not exciting,&rdquo; mainly because they can&rsquo;t even make it around the circuit for more than an hour. &ldquo;The kind of races I enter are mostly endurance races, so with current BEVs, it&rsquo;s not going to be a race of the cars. It&rsquo;s a race of charging time or battery exchanges or something,&rdquo; he told <em>Auto News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For these reasons, he&rsquo;s handed off the task of developing EV race cars to the next master driver, saying it will be &ldquo;their job&rdquo; to tackle.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placement\">\n<div id=\"e46c436a-adeb-4b5e-a2c7-56bc36561c10\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<div id=\"b25ecba7-3bbb-4ea7-a3a8-dbea91695c07\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\tvar adpushup = window.adpushup  = window.adpushup || {que:[]};<br \/>\n         \t\tadpushup.que.push(function() {<br \/>\n             \t\tif (adpushup.config.platform !== &#8220;DESKTOP&#8221;){<br \/>\n    \t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;b25ecba7-3bbb-4ea7-a3a8-dbea91695c07&#8221;);<br \/>\n             \t\t} else {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;e46c436a-adeb-4b5e-a2c7-56bc36561c10&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Speaking of a potential successor, Toyoda did admit that his son, Daisuke, is the better driver. Still, Akio believes he has the upper hand when it comes to the &ldquo;seasoning&rdquo; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/tag\/toyota-gr-corolla\">production models<\/a>. After honing his driving skills under chief test driver Naruse at the ripe age of 40, Toyoda says he&rsquo;s eager to see what his son, who started much younger, will bring to the table. &ldquo;I look forward to seeing what will happen with someone who started young like Daisuke,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-Toyota-GR-Yaris-411-26.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image-block\"> <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazy \" src=\"\" alt=\" Toyoda Shuts Down EV Sports Cars, Prefers Smells And Sounds Of Gas Anyway\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1406\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-Toyota-GR-Yaris-411-26-1024x576.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image\" \/><figcaption>Toyota GR Yaris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>        <\/a>  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Akio Toyoda suggested that the future GR lineup will likely exclude electric sports cars. The chairman and master driver favors &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/toyoda-shuts-down-ev-sports-cars-prefers-smells-and-sounds-of-gas-anyway\/\" class=\"more-link\"><span class=\"more-button\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Toyoda Shuts Down EV Sports Cars, Prefers Smells And Sounds Of Gas Anyway<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809\/revisions\/1812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}