The newly appointed CEO of Toyota, Koji Sato, has explained how he plans to change the company’s EV strategy in the coming years. It’s new, yet familiar, as the company will utilize its Lexus brand to push its electrification techniques, but it won’t be an accelerated process.
Toyota has faced considerable criticism for its electrification plan, with most critics believing it to be too slow to be effective. The new Toyota CEO, Koji Sato, is finally looking to address this as he enters the new position in April. According to comments from the upcoming executive to Reuters, Toyota will focus on the electrification of its Lexus brand before moving to broader market consumer offerings.
By electrifying its top-of-the-line brand first, Sato has chosen an EV strategy that, perhaps new to Toyota, is nothing new for the industry. Due to the incredible expense of electrification, legacy automakers have continually chosen to electrify more expensive options first to battle the incredibly high production costs of the first EVs they produce.
Tesla’s first offering was an electrified Lotus sports car that was hardly affordable. Ford’s first EV, the Mustang Mach-E, is considerably more expensive than its equivalent gas models. Even Nissan, who pioneered electrification with the Nissan Leaf, has introduced a higher price SUV to follow suit, the Nissan Ariya.
Sadly, Sato noted that his new electrification plan would not be an all-in rapid electrification. Instead, the company will still leave the door open for other zero-emissions options, such as hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Sato concluded his message to Reuters by noting two final points. First, Toyota would still aim for 3.5 million EVs on the road by 2030. Second, Toyota must focus on better communication regarding its electrification, showing consumers and investors the future of the brand is bright.
It should be noted that the company’s electrification plan remains unchanged until Sato takes his position as CEO at the Japanese auto giant. Further, with likely entrenched support for hybridization and hydrogen technology, Sato may face opposition from executives who don’t believe in a more EV-focused growth plan, even for just the luxury Lexus brand.
Toyota’s original plan to offer roughly 30 all-electric models first ran into problems late last year as Toyota engineers worried that the company would become uncompetitive in the market if it did not begin to offer EVs more quickly, leading to executives pausing the program and re-evaluating the EV strategy. However, it remains unclear what changes were decided upon following the pause.
Lexus’s first EV offering is a variation of the Toyota BZ4X/Subaru Solterra, which has faced numerous recall issues, hence its late introduction. However, in the future, the brand plans to offer more exciting vehicles, including an all-electric coupe based on the well-known Toyota Supra and Lexus LFA models.
For EV enthusiasts, the change in Toyota’s leadership is likely a good sign that the company may head in a new direction regarding its EV transition. However, that process is proving to be iterative, not revolutionary. Hopefully, as the EV market proves to become ever more lucrative, Toyota can choose to electrify more quickly in turn.
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Tesla Supercharger Network is so reliable, it’s pushing Model Y sales
Tesla’s Supercharger network is proving to be a key factor in the company’s dominance in several key markets.
Tesla’s Supercharger network is proving to be a key factor in the company’s dominance in several key markets. These include Norway, which has become a place of strength for the new Model Y.
This was hinted at by Tesla’s Director of Charging, Max de Zegher, on social media platform X.
Supercharger network sets the industry standard
As noted by the Tesla executive, the Model Y accounted for 29% of all vehicle sales in Norway in September. Part of the vehicle’s success was likely due to the reliability of the Supercharger Network, which is class leading even in Norway, where 98% of new cars sold are electric.
De Zegher emphasized on X that Tesla Superchargers are still in a class of their own. An EPSI survey of nearly 1,500 Norwegian EV drivers supported his claim, as Tesla Superchargers retained first place in customer satisfaction for the fifth consecutive year.
Respondents to the EPSI survey praised the Supercharger network’s strong uptime, abundant capacity, and user-friendly digital solutions, placing it ahead of other operators such as Uno-X. Survey researchers highlighted that Tesla has set the standard when it comes to simplicity in the charging process.
Drivers also cited competitive pricing and seamless plug-and-charge functionality as major reasons they prefer Tesla’s network, especially in Norway’s extreme winter conditions where reliability is critical.
Superchargers for everyone
As Norway approaches full EV adoption, network dependability has become a decisive factor in the electric vehicle ownership experience. What is especially notable is the fact that Tesla Superchargers are open to all EVs in Norway, making the network beneficial for everyone.
De Zegher also noted that despite the company’s progress in Norway, Tesla will continue to learn from Norwegian customers so service could be improved further. “We’re always learning from our Norwegian customers. Plug & charge should be the way all customers pay for charging. Extreme cold makes that further obvious,” he wrote.
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Tesla top exec Tom Zhu highlights Elon Musk’s “prime directive” for FSD
Zhu’s comments emphasize Tesla’s uncompromising focus on safety, which has made the company’s vehicles among the safest on the road.
Tesla Senior Vice President for Automotive Tom Zhu, a key executive behind the company’s success in China and Giga Texas, recently highlighted the “prime directive” of Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Zhu’s comments emphasize Tesla’s uncompromising focus on safety, which has made the company’s vehicles among the safest on the road.
Echoing Musk’s vision for safe autonomous driving
Zhu’s post quoted Musk’s statement from 2021, where the CEO reportedly stated that FSD must avoid accidents even if the most ridiculous events happened in the middle of the road. Zhu stated that beyond everything, Tesla’s systems like Autopilot and FSD are designed to keep passengers safe.
“Elon said it in 2021: “For self-driving, even if the road is painted completely wrong and a UFO lands in the middle of the road, the car still cannot crash and still needs to do the right thing. The prime directive for the autopilot system is: Don’t crash. That really overrides everything. No matter what the lines say or how the road is done, the thing that needs to happen is minimizing the probability of impact while getting you to your destination conveniently and comfortably,” Zhu stated.
“The prime directive, the absolute priority, is to minimize the probability of injury to yourself or to anyone on the road, to pedestrians, or anything like that. It can’t be dependent on the road markings being correct.”
Tesla leadership rallies behind global FSD rollout
Tom Zhu, who previously led Tesla China through its record-breaking growth phase, now oversees automotive operations worldwide. He has reportedly become a problem solver for Elon Musk over the years, with previous reports stating that he was brought in to help Giga Texas optimize its vehicle production ramp.
Zhu’s comments may sound ambitious, but FSD has proven that it values safety above all else over the years. This was highlighted recently in an incident in Australia, when a Model Y was hit by what could very well be a meteor. Despite the impact and part of its windshield melting, the vehicle was able to drive safely and keep its passengers safe.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his Tesla Roadster
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” Altman said.
Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his reservation for a Tesla Roadster, the supercar the company has been developing for nearly eight years.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, announced on X on Thursday evening that he canceled his Tesla Roadster reservation, or at least is trying to:
A tale in three acts: pic.twitter.com/ClRZBgT24g
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 30, 2025
Altman placed his Tesla Roadster reservation with a $50,000 deposit way back on July 11, 2018. However, he recently decided that he had waited long enough and decided to email the company to officially cancel the order.
“Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund me the $50k?” Altman emails to reservations@tesla.com.
He then received an immediate response, but not from Tesla. Instead, it was a bounce-back message from Google, stating that the message could not be delivered to the email because it was not active.
Altman then provided a reason for his cancellation, and it was not related to the intense rivalry he had with Elon Musk:
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.”
I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 30, 2025
Altman and Musk have a lengthy history with one another that dates back to 2015, when OpenAI was created. The feud has resulted in lawsuits over breaching founding agreements by prioritizing profits.
Musk has been especially critical in recent years because of Altman’s decision to turn OpenAI into a for-profit business that he says is “built on a lie.”
This year, Musk offered over $97 billion to buy OpenAI, and a judge blocked his request to stop the company from being converted into a for-profit in March.
OpenAI then countersued Musk in April, while xAI, Musk’s company, sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing secrets through poached employees in September.
Elon Musk explains why xAI sued OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft
Regarding the Roadster, Tesla has been developing it for several years and has delayed its release for five consecutive years. The company says it will have a demo of what it has changed since it was unveiled in 2017 later this year, but no date has been set quite yet.
Tesla Supercharger Network is so reliable, it’s pushing Model Y sales
Tesla top exec Tom Zhu highlights Elon Musk’s “prime directive” for FSD
Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his Tesla Roadster
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