Caresoft Global Technologies
Assembly Line
How Long Can Toyota Put Off Figuring Out EVs?
Toyota’s first global EV, the bZ4X, illustrates how traditional automotive manufacturing wisdom can become a barrier to innovation. While Toyota’s Production System excels at incremental improvements, exemplified by their steel cross-car beam refined over decades for ICE vehicles, EV leaders Tesla and BYD have reimagined components from scratch. Their plastic beam equivalent weighs just 14 pounds, costs less, and is simpler to install - a solution that emerged from thinking beyond traditional constraints.
This divide extends to broader manufacturing strategies. Tesla and BYD operate more modular facilities with increased in-house production, designing proprietary components for EVs that use roughly one-third the parts of conventional vehicles. Meanwhile, Toyota’s EV production requires compromises, like moving body frames off the main assembly line for battery installation - a workflow that manufacturing executive Susan Elkington acknowledges isn’t optimal but provides needed flexibility during the transition.
The situation highlights a crucial insight from former GM executive Terry Woychowski: “You cannot kaizen yourself from an ICE vehicle to a BEV.” For traditional automakers, the path to competitive EV manufacturing may require more revolutionary than evolutionary thinking.