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Toyota is taking the Corolla electric

446 points · 838 comments · cisc

  1. freetime2 · · focus · HN ↗
    Cars that are designed from the ground up to be EVs tend to be much better than trying to shoehorn an EV into an ICE design.

    The new Lexus ES350e, which comes in both hybrid and EV flavors, has been pretty universally panned as a mediocre EV [1]. Lexus anticipates that the vast majority of ES sales will be for the hybrid model, and I expect the same will be true of the Corolla.

    The updated bZ and new bZ Woodland on the other hand, which are built as ground-up EVs on the e-TNGA platform, actually seem pretty decent. And I'm hopeful for the upcoming EV Highlander, too (although that will use a modified version of the TNGA-K platform).

    I would prefer if Toyota just released a new EV model with roughly the same proportions as the Corolla, instead of going with the one-size-fits-all approach. But maybe they'll finally be able to get it right this time.

    [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QQ97R1nhq4M" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QQ97R1nhq4M

    1. thelastgallon · · focus · HN ↗
      &gt; I would prefer if Toyota just released a new EV model with roughly the same proportions as the Corolla

      Indeed. Toyota&#x27;s days are numbered.

      BYD is selling EVs for US$14K in Australia. Toyota is Nokia, they don&#x27;t know it just yet. Corolla EV is 30K USD, gas 25K.

      AUD 19,900 driveway (means taxes, registration etc included), or about US$14K: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=49772728">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=49772728

      1. pxmpxm · · focus · HN ↗
        &gt; BYD is selling EVs for US$14K in Australia

        Tech people seem to really be confused about the concepts of revenue and net income; must be the whole VC we lose money on every item, but make it up on volume thing.

        1. addy34 · · focus · HN ↗
          Do you mean BYD? They posted USD1.2 billion in profit in the most recent quarter FYI, with gross auto margin of ~20%. Their domestic margins are not good, but they&#x27;ve have strong export growth recently and exports are profitable.
          1. gottorf · · focus · HN ↗
            Isn&#x27;t that similar to how Emirates is profitable (~16% before tax as of the last fiscal year) while providing a more luxurious service? For both, the line between state and corporation is blurry enough that you could argue both are subsidized to starve out international competition.

            Emirates claims no subsidies at all; BYD&#x27;s disclosed direct grants alone are about a third of their cumulative lifetime profit, let alone indirect subsidies.

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