Toyota says going all-in on electric cars will cost jobs

Toyota has been pretty hesitant in its switch to electric power, with the automaker repeatedly delaying EV targets, pushing back production and continuing its focus on hybrids. Now, the Corolla maker has revealed that some of the thinking behind this delay is due to the job cuts that a switch to full electric power will bring.

Company chairman Akio Toyoda has become the latest auto industry insider to warn that a move to battery power will result in job losses across the sector, reports Reuters. The cuts could come as skilled jobs in “engine-related” work are lost as gas-powered motors are replaced by electric ones, as Reuters reports:

“There are 5.5 million people involved in the automotive industry in Japan. Among them are those who have been doing engine-related (work) for a long time,” Akio Toyoda told reporters.

“If electric vehicles simply become the only choice, including for our suppliers, those people’s jobs would be lost,” he said, adding he liked gasoline vehicles.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker by sales, has been more cautious in its approach to EVs than other makers. That’s helping it currently as global EV sales slow and it benefits from demand for its expanding hybrid line-up, including in its top market the United States.

Instead of going all-in on battery power, Toyota instead has taken what it calls a “multi-pathway” strategy to cut emissions across its lineup. This has included an expansion of its hybrid offerings, the addition of hydrogen-powered cars to its lineup and the launch of new battery-powered models.

This mix will be true of the wider automotive market, as well as Toyota’s lineup, the company argued. Earlier this year, Toyoda explained that he believed electric cars would only account for around 30 percent of vehicles on the road, with hydrogen power and hybrid gas cars making up the remainder. However, he didn’t share a timeframe for this vision.

The automaker has been slow to add fully-electric cars to its lineup compared with other global automotive power houses, however, and just this week announced it was delaying its planned EV production here in the U.S.

A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik’s The Morning Shift.