Toyota is reportedly in the process of finalizing a multi-year plan to make it more competitive against the likes of Tesla and China's BYD in the electric vehicle market. According to inside sources who spoke to Reuters, the Japanese automaker has been and continues to examine ways to improve its competitiveness in the EV market, a key area many believe it has fallen behind.

One way of doing so is to speed up the adoption of so-called "performance-boosting technologies," such as electric drive systems and the electronics that convert power from the grid to energy stored in batteries. These might initially sound like relatively minor changes, but they're not. Improving these technologies could possibly delay new EVs that were originally planned to launch over the next three years.

The report indicates the tech changes could include successors to the Toyota bZ4X and the Lexus RZ.

Nothing has been finalized just yet but the automaker is slated to meet with major suppliers in February to lay out its plan and see what's feasible for those suppliers. This is also a major opportunity for both sides to meet; it will be the first global supplier conference of its type since the pandemic struck back in 2020. Toyota did not comment on what specific topics will be discussed at the event, only stating that it is "always actively discussing and working with key [suppliers and partners] on a variety of topics."

Toyota scion and company president, Akio Toyoda, has voiced skepticism multiple times regarding his hesitation to adopt battery electric technology fully, like GM, for example.

Environmental groups have criticized Toyota for its slow EV rollout, but Toyoda's concerns are valid, specifically regarding electricity grids and their ability to sustain constant global EV charging. But Toyota is facing another long-term problem: consumers are abandoning it (and fellow Japanese brand Honda) for EVs from competitors like GM, Ford, Hyundai, and, of course, Tesla.

Toyota's entry into the EV market will continue, but it needs to do so with greater profitability. For example, Tesla earned nearly eight times the profit per vehicle as Toyota in the third quarter of this year. How come? It knows how to simplify EV production and, therefore, reduce costs.

Toyota already has a $30 billion, three-stage EV launch plan, but now a working group has been established to find ways to improve cost performance and technology. The group is looking several years into the future, which includes a successor to the three-year-old e-TNGA EV platform, the basis of the bZ4X.

Meanwhile, Toyota's gasoline-electric hybrids, like the new Prius, will remain a critical part of its transition to carbon neutrality for several more years.