Toyota's EV targets were already low. Now they're getting slashed as hybrids rule

Toyota TM+0.31% has already proven that its decision to focus on hybrid vehicles over fully-electric models is paying off. The company’s sales are booming as hybrid options like the Prius and Rav4 fly off forecourts and now, it’s knuckling down on that commitment to hybrid power by slashing its already low targets for electric vehicle sales.

The Camry maker reportedly cut its electric car production targets for 2026 by a third, according to a new report from Reuters. Toyota had initially been targeting output of 1.5 million EVs in 2026, but will now aim to produce around 1 million electric cars instead, as Reuters explains:

The world’s biggest automaker now plans to build 1 million EVs in 2026, compared with the company’s earlier announced sales target of 1.5 million, it said.

Toyota said in a statement there was no change to its intention to produce 1.5 million EVs per year by 2026 and 3.5 million by 2030. It said, however, that the figures were not targets but benchmarks for shareholders.

Producing even 1 million electric vehicles per year, however, represents an ambitious undertaking for Toyota, which has put far more effort into developing hybrids and sold only about 104,000 EVs last year. EVs currently account for about 1% of its global sales.

The automaker’s rollout of electric models has been far from smooth. Its first mass-produced EV here in America was the BZ4X created in collaboration with Subaru. Reviews were lukewarm, to say the least, and in Toyota’s latest results the company revealed that it had sold just 9,000 EVs so far this year.

Instead, its attention has seemingly always lay with hybrid options and even hydrogen power, with the automaker still selling the Mirai in California despite the dwindling number of filling stations across the state. Now, with hybrid cars offering a handy stopgap for people hesitant to make the switch to fully-electric power, the company’s reluctance to go all in on battery power is tricky to shake.

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