Do you know why rats have survived for so long? Do you why they are able to thrive in conditions that would make a billy goat puke? It is because they are an adaptable species. Let’s take a look into a possible future scenario. One day, when a monstrous asteroid strikes the earth and kills off the human race, rats will emerge from the ashes and evolve into a bipedal master race. Such a cataclysmic event could be thousands of years into the future. Or it could be tomorrow. But the point is this. To survive in an ever-changing world you have to be adaptable. To that end, the Daily Car Blog’s days are numbered, this car blog is facing a countdown to extinction for sure.

And Toyota is facing a similar crossroads. Yes, you read that correctly I just compared the Daily Car Blog to monolithic Toyota. And the average rat. Toyota hasn’t exactly embraced the road to battery-powered cars. And for good reason, the company has invested billions into developing hybrid technology. Switching over to battery-powered drivetrains will end nearly 100 years of combustion engine knowledge. And market dominance. Billions would be lost overnight.

Toyota’s position is to argue for a continuation of hybrid-combustion engines alongside battery-powered cars. They believe that much more work can be done to make hybrid cars as clean as electric cars. But they have had 100 years and the only argument they have is “options”. Not good enough. Their investment into hydrogen fuel cell technology has virtually no demand faces huge barriers to entry hurdles. The main barrier is the cost of building and maintaining a safe hydrogen infrastructure. Toyota has had enough time to make a solid argument for continuing with the combustion engine.

Toyota company man earnestly hard-working director of all things Toyota, Shigeki Terashi, had his say. During a recent annual shareholder meeting, he stated that sticking to a battery-electric future is the wrong way to go. Of the switch to EVs Terashi is reported to have said:

“It’s too early to concentrate on one option,”

In other words, Terashi is saying that Toyota is fundamentally against the efforts to reduce global warming. So why make and sell hybrid cars in the first place using combustion engines? The answer is simple, to protect long-term profits. Toyota’s constant buffeting of EVs has led to many questioning the company’s actual corporate stance on the environment.

Is Toyota really interested in protecting the environment? Are they using their hybrid technology to mask a hidden anti-environmental agenda? The words coming from Toyota’s mouth are contradictory to the company’s supposed concerns over the environment. They had better learn from the rat and learn to adapt.