Toyota's new CEO Hiroshi Sato: will focus on the Lexus brand and increase the production of electric vehicles

CTOnews.com As Toyota fights back against critics who say its iteration of electric vehicles is too slow, Toyota's new CEO Hiroshi Sato said Monday that the company will focus on its luxury brand Lexus and increase its electric vehicle production, but the company will not deviate from its long-term strategy of exploring other technologies.

Sato said Toyota will accelerate the supply of its battery products by focusing on Lexus. Toyota says hybrid models make more sense for many drivers, especially when the infrastructure isn't ready to support the electric-only market, and they support hydrogen-powered cars as the future.

Koji Sato will take over as head of the world's largest automaker on April 1. He noted that this is not a major change in strategy and Toyota will continue to focus on pursuing a variety of different technologies to achieve carbon-neutral vehicle development.

"It's not a rapid shift to electric vehicles," he said, noting that most of the problems stem from "communication issues" in Toyota's strategy, and "in terms of our slow progress on battery EV projects, I think about half of them are communication issues," saying the company is sticking to its previous goal of selling 3.5 million electric vehicles by 2030.

He said further communication on the strategy would take place in April once his team took office. CTOnews.com reported that as an engineer by training, Sato joined Toyota in 1992 and began his career there before being promoted to Chief Engineer at Lexus International in 2016.

During his development of Lexus 'first all-electric model, he said he would provide other power options for the vehicle.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda leaves office in April and is about to open a new chapter in electric vehicles