As electrification continues to slow, the world’s largest manufacturer is launching a new internal combustion engine for hybrid vehicles.

The first message came from Germany and said that Mercedes Benz changed its electrification program announced in 2021 to Ola Kallenius, the brand’s global CEO, is pushing back the timeline by at least five years. The original plans were to achieve 50% of car production is electrified. by 2025, and the new date is now the next decade.

New Mercedes forecasts show that the target of selling half of new cars with pure electrification by 2025 will not be reached until 2030. “Even in Europe Sales likely won’t be all-electric by 2030as battery-powered vehicles currently account for only 11% of total sales, and 19% when including hybrids.”

Everything happens because of delay value parity for production and therefore for consumers, between conventional combustion engine vehicles and 100% electric vehicles. In an interview with Bloomberg TelevisionKällenius said he is still “in After many years”.

For this reason, Mercedes-Benz decided to develop new thermal engine technology to give customers a clear signal about the support that traditional cars will receive in the future. The executive announced this by saying that “it’s almost as if in 2027 we have a new line that let’s take us while it’s good entering the 2030s.”

Another German manufacturer that has made big announcements regarding electrification is BMW. And there is also a revision of the original plans, including new developments of internal combustion engines and hybrids. “We are now upgrading our ICE (internal combustion engines) engines to EU7 level,” he said recently. Francis van Meldirector of the BMW M division, speaking about the importance of taking effect Euro 7 emissions it will come into force in mid-2027. “You’ll have to go down these three pathsotherwise you will not be able to respond to what is happening in different countries of the world.”

But without a doubt, the great player who has never changed his mind about the need to offer multi-platforms rather than focusing solely on electric vehicles for the future of mobility is Toyota. Much of the automotive world has criticized the Japanese manufacturer for not engaging in an aggressive electric vehicle program, to the point that Akio Toyodagrandson of the brand founder and CEO Toyota Motor Corporation it stepped aside until April 2023 to make way for new leaders who had a more modern idea of ​​sustainable mobility.

Announcing his departure from the brand, Toyoda stated that “due to my great passion for cars, I’m an old fashioned man When it comes to digitalization, electric vehicles and connected cars. I can’t go beyond being a car enthusiast and that’s my limitation. The new team can do what I can’t. Now I need to take a step back to allow young people to enter a new chapter of what the world should be. the future of mobility.”

His replacement was Koji Satofrom Lexusluxury brand of the Japanese colossus, and although Toyoda’s speech left the feeling that he was at the gate Toyota’s strong penetration into the electric power industry Total machines, in a short time we were able to verify that this was not the case. Today, far from expanding factories to produce more electric vehicles, Toyota announced that its big bet on the technology is based on the development solid state batteries. Meanwhile, the decision to retain the multi-engine platform continues to be a value they are not moving away from.

And to prove it is nothing less than reality. This Tuesday Toyota, Subaru and Mazdaannounced joint development new line of internal combustion engines intended exclusively to complement electric motors of the format Hybrid cars.

“In an era where the development of battery electric vehicle technology is accelerating, there is new paper that we can also play for Internal combustion engine– Sato said at the presentation event of this development.

Toyota went on to say that this is good news that will benefit hundreds of suppliers struggling with the transition to electric vehicles, and that its new internal combustion engines should be in production by the time the company’s updated EU emissions rules are phased in from end of 2026 and until mid-2027.

Toyota’s new engines will be between 10 and 20% smaller and will provide more power when combined with batteries. They are expected to be used first in hybrid vehicles and then in plug-in hybrids. In addition, engine options will be able to run on both diesel and gasoline fuels, as well as low-emission or carbon-neutral fuels, e.g. hydrogen and so-called electronic fuel or electronic fuel.

A few days ago, during the launch in Argentina of the new version Corolla Cross SUVwhich enters our market offering a petrol and hybrid option, like its predecessor, Toyota Argentina President Gustavo Salinas– he commented Information that “reality marks a path where it is not about everything being hybrid, but rather about times when electrification will progress. Many assumed that in the short term it would only be electric vehicles, since, but reality says no. Even in the most developed regions, in the USA itself. And everything requires infrastructure. Electrified cars still cost more than conventional cars, and there are people who pay for them and governments that subsidize them, but not everyone can do it. There are customers who adapt to electrified vehicles as they use them, and there are those who do not. So I think it’s This will be a long-term transition. in which technology will evolve, and in this process, in the short term, it will be hybrid technology that will gain mass adoption.”