"Let's all build the future together!" This was Morizo's emphatic appeal to fellow car lovers around the world.
Morizo’s request
Now, getting back to what I was talking about.
The third thing I did last year was take action to protect colleagues for the future.
We have been working on hydrogen-engine initiatives since three years ago out of the belief that battery electric vehicles do not represent the only way to achieve carbon neutrality.
Last year, we tried liquid hydrogen and drove at Le Mans running it. Why put so much effort into this area?
It's because we can't build the future unless we do it with our colleagues.
Many of our 5.5 million colleagues make engine parts.
These people support Japan and have the skills to make the Japan of tomorrow strong.
We must never lose these people.
However, I’ve heard of people working with engines who cannot even borrow money from the bank these days.
That must not happen, and I want to do something about it.
Therefore, I made a request to Toyota.
Engines still have a role to play as a practical means of achieving carbon neutrality!
So, let's refine engine technology! Let's start such a project!
President (Koji) Sato and other members of management agreed with my proposal, and a project to promote engine development anew was set in motion within Toyota.
Engines in this day and age? It might sound like we are going backward, but that's not at all the case.
We need to do this to move toward the future.
To all those who have made engines up until now, let's continue to make engines!
Everyone's help will continue to be needed! I will never let all the work you've all done so far go to waste!
I hope that this message will reach our colleagues.
However, Toyota is a large company, so it might take much more time.
I ask that you look forward to it.
Car lovers! Let’s build the future together!
Like me, there are people who love engines, who are hooked on the noise and the smell…
Some people like battery EVs. Some say that now is the time for hybrids. And then there are plug-in hybrid vehicles and hydrogen.
The energy source could be anything!
There is always one truth. The only enemy is carbon!
Knowing that, there is something that I want to convey to all who love cars!
The future is something for all of us to build together!
I want to build the future together with all car lovers!
Let’s all build the future together!
Thank you very much.
“Let’s build the future together!”
These closing words were the same as at last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon.
Yet this year, the speech began differently.
Whereas last time he had introduced himself as Akio Toyoda, this year began, as we’ve seen, with “Good morning. I am Morizo.” Not as a carmaker addressing his customers, but a fellow car lover.
Amid the vocal push for carbon neutrality, some auto industry colleagues are feeling the squeeze. In calling for Toyota to keep making engines, Morizo’s message seemed to give voice to their hopes.