Electric Vehicles

I kind of like it, but I like pretty much every concept car interior!

But at first I had the exact same reaction.

And hybrids.

Yeah this is true. I feel like the Chinese cars are pretty jank, and the fact that the cars are mostly software and the Chinese carmakers are kind of bad at it is to the detriment of the Chinese cars. If someone had better software, I'd pay more for it. The problem: This is "sudden unexplained acceleration" Toyota we're talking about.

Korean auto brands have already flooded the US market

Hyundai/Kia new EV sales in the US in 2025 was about 108,000. source

Toyota sold about 248,000 new Corollas in North America in 2025. source

Or, put another way, Toyota sold over 2.5 million new cars in North America while total EV sales in the US were about 1.3 million.

There's plenty of room for new entrants to compete in the US EV market, and probably Canada.

Also, Toyota is committing to competing globally against the Chinese automakers. They're building out a new factory in Shanghai to produce the EV version of the Lexus ES, an electrified version of one of their best selling sedans (and also a major part of their EV strategy in North America).

They have more time than any traditional automaker to get it right, because they already have the current profits to be able to build things out. They're late to the game, but this competition will still play out for decades.

So true, Toyotas biggest mistake was not making the 2006 Toyota Corolla fully electric

Up-front manufacturing expertise matters, but I really do think that Toyota has relevant expertise in some other areas that, as you mention, Chinese manufacturers haven't yet proven themselves.

First, ongoing maintenance and parts support is really important. There will be collisions. There will be wear and tear. The parts supply chain and maintenance/repair documentation remains an important part of a manufacturer's ongoing reputation for quality. As newer automakers mature, we'll see where each one shakes up in the overall rankings for ongoing support of 5, 10, or 20 year old vehicles.

Second, an interesting thing is how automakers refresh updates by model year or even model generations. Does launching a new generation move things smoothly as the older ones are sold off and the newer model starts to show up? Interestingly, Toyota has a gap developing right now as it moves the Highlander from ICE/hybrid to full EV, with an unexpected delay in production of the new assembly line, so that it might have no Highlanders available for sale for a few months. That's the kind of challenge that different automakers will need to deal with. Tesla refreshes its models slower than a lot of traditional automakers, and that might make a difference in long term competition.

And one big advantage Toyota has over most traditional automakers is that it has the suppliers and supply chains for millions of batteries and electric motors per year. They're smaller capacity (usually less than 5 kWh for hybrids and less than 10 kWh for plug-in hybrids) than a typical full EV battery (usually 50-100 kWh), but things like regenerative braking and electric motors are well within their engineering expertise.

Another big advantage that Toyota has over startups is its very deep pockets where it can draw on its current profits and revenue to take the time to get things right, without relying on external financing from investors. They have the financial runway to afford to make a few mistakes on the way.

They saw the genius design of the Model 3's centered screen and said "hold my beer".

The entirety of the inside is ridiculous. I’m not sure an idiot would even make that a reality. I’d expect the inside to look like their current models. This would be doubly true for any Corolla as it’s their most approachable offering.

I came to the conclusion the only answer is a " hey AI turn up hear or sound". Terrible.

All they had to do was make the car electric. Knobs dont run on tiny explosions.

its a concept car. those never get produced and always are shareholder pipedreams

That is a dedicated passenger screen. BMW is now doing that on some of their cars.

Not that much worse than every new car really. Mount a stupid tablet in the middle (but yes, painfully way away on this model) and call it a day.

Car designers truly have lost the plot. Cheap bullshit.

There was actually a recall for the Inster over that issue. I don't think it's a reliability thing so much as just choosing the wrong part for the job in manufacturing. I wouldn't expect that sort of thing to happen again.

I was in an Inster recently. They're surprisingly roomy.