Moving to an all-electric future would mean job losses, Toyota’s president warns Reuters

NAGOYA, Japan (Reuters) – A shift to an all-electric future would lead to job losses among those who worked on engine-related technologies, including at the sector’s many suppliers, Toyota President Motor (NYSE: ) said Thursday.

“There are 5.5 million people involved in the auto industry in Japan. Among them are those who have been doing (work) related to the engine for a long time,” Akio Toyoda told reporters.

“If electric vehicles simply become the only option, including for our suppliers, those people’s jobs would be lost,” he said, adding that he likes gas vehicles.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker by sales, has been more cautious in its approach to electric vehicles than other manufacturers. That’s helping it now as global electric vehicle sales slow and benefit from demand for its expanding hybrid lineup, including in its top market in the United States.

It advocates what it calls a “multi-track” strategy toward zero carbon emissions that includes electric vehicles, hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and other powertrain technologies.

In January, Toyoda said electric vehicles would account for no more than 30 percent of the global auto market, with the rest made up by hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells and gasoline-powered vehicles. He did not specify a time frame for this forecast.

Toyoda made the comments to reporters at the unveiling of a bust of his father, Shoichiro Toyoda, at Nagoya University in central Japan.

The elder Toyoda, who died aged 97 last year, led Toyota in the 1980s when the company reshaped the global auto market, overturning Detroit’s dominance. He also oversaw the launch of the Lexus luxury brand and the Prius hybrid.