Gasoline-electric hybrid models remain far more popular in Toyota's home market than electric vehicles , which accounted for just 1% of the passenger cars sold in Japan last year, according to industry data. Still, the market is growing fast and foreign automakers including Tesla Inc are making visible inroads on the streets of cities such as Tokyo.
While EV acceptance has been slow in Japan, that will change, and Toyota could risk losing market share by focusing on a model of leasing rather than purchasing, said CLSA analyst Christopher Richter."It's a strategy I am not that fond of. It does signal that Toyota is taking the home market a little bit for granted."Toyota aims to lease 5,000 of the SUVs in the current financial year - around the same amount of EVs that analysts estimate Tesla sold in Japan last year.
EVs became popular in Europe through lease programmes offered by employers and Toyota may be trying a similar tack to popularise electric cars, said Seiji Sugiura, a senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.