Toyota Motors competes with VW Group for the crown of “world’s largest vehicle maker.” Each year and each market provide different battlegrounds year-to-year and market-to-market. Now, Toyota is looking to compete in two new markets: Energy enterprise and direct-to-consumer sales.
Energy enterprises around storage batteries (vehicles and fixed sites) are a new market space for vehicle manufacturers to become Alien Invaders. Traditional/legacy energy grids and enterprises (utilities, transport, and distribution grids) will need to face new market space entrants. These entrants are not required to invest in gigantic front-end build/overbuild and asset costs.
Toyota Motors pioneered the hybrid car segment with the Prius platform and drive train. It competes globally with offerings from GM, BYD, VW, KIA, and others. As Electric Vehicles (EVs) continue to grow, the market for hybrid vehicles is changing. Although use cases and platforms point to an extended coexistence of hybrid and EVs for an extended period, Marketspace economics change with operating costs (fuel/electricity), platform costs (batteries), and practicality (charging infrastructure/plug-ins/hybrids). An overlooked factor is the intervention of the direct-to-consumer movement by manufacturers.
EkaLore has written about Tesla, Ford, GM, Honda, and others racing towards a direct-to-consumer long-term relationship model. The rush towards direct-to-consumer sales is pushing vehicle manufacturers towards new markets and new tactics.
Look for part 2 of this post tomorrow at www.ekalore.com/alien-invaders
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