Sawa: A Land Cruiser EV? That won't work. Tesla-fighters from Germany are about to land on the Jersey beaches, but Lexus has yet to confirm its first battery EV. In fact, Yoshihiro Sawa, the Japanese luxury brand's global president, sounds downright nuanced about electrification.
He prefers eclectification.
"We have to develop technology on all fronts," Sawa told U.K. car magazine Autocar. "We understand that electric is very necessary, but we can also see that full EV will not suit everyone.
"You can't make an electric Land Cruiser work, for instance, and there are people in remote parts of the world whose lives depend on that car."
Sawa has other concerns, too.
"EVs currently require a long charging time and batteries that have an environmental impact," he said. "And then, when battery cells need replacing, we have to consider plans for future use and recycling. It's a much more complex issue than the current rhetoric perhaps suggests."
