As we are in Japan to participate in the G20 Trade & Digital Economy, Toyota announces agreement with the China’s CATL as well as BYD for the supply of electric batteries, aiming to achieve sales of 5.5mn electric cars by 2025, 5 years ahead of schedule (2030).
Some of My Comments:
1) This agreement between Japanese and Chinese companies is good news from Asia, precisely in a historical moment in which the tensions between East and West are not completely resolved.
2) Toyota’s choice to rely on CATL and BYD shows that the scale of production that China has acquired in recent years makes cooperation with China almost a necessity, as Toyota implicitly admitted. A concept that I have been trying to communicate to the West for years is that the Made in China 2025 plan is creating large economies of scale and the consequent reduction of average costs and strengthening of China’s competitive position both on quality and price.
3) The competition in electric vehicle market is accelerating. It is increasingly necessary for Europe and Italy in particular to also be part of this revolution, and clearly, we are far behind (5 thousand electric vehicles in Italy against 50,000 in Japan and 1.3 million a year in China). The creation of a large European car group is desirable and Italy could be a leader in this project.
(Source: EV Volumes.com)
(Source: EV Volumes.com)