Being first doesn’t always mean much. Consider gas-electric hybrid automobiles. Toyota and Honda have been selling them for decades. But how serious were they, really? For 2023, there’s only one automaker selling cars that are purely mild hybrid, hybrid or electric in the United States, and it’s not from Japan.
Of course, you’d never guess Volvo, and certainly it even surprised me. This is a company that pioneered safety equipment, not electrified vehicles. Yet with Toyota’s years-long lead in hybrid technology, you have to wonder why the majority of the vehicles they sell aren’t hybrids, but all of Volvo’s are.
Now, Toyota competes in many more segments than Volvo, and at many different price points. But Toyota is among the biggest auto manufacturers in the world; Volvo is significantly smaller. So it’s easier for them to go all hybrid and electric. Of course, you can chalk some of that up to the competitiveness of Volvo’s corporate parent, Chinese automaker Geely Global.
