Amid The Onslaught Of High Performance EVs, Toyota Gazoo Racing Stays On ICE Machines And Manual Transmission

JAKARTA - The global automotive industry is currently booming with various lines of electric vehicle products. Not only used in urban mobility needs, but also in terms of high performance.

For example, Hyundai has marketed Ioniq 5 N globally with performance as well as gasoline-powered sports cars (ICE). The car depicts the revolutionary of environmentally friendly vehicles.

Unlike the Hyundai N sub-brand, it is actually rivals like Toyota with the Gazoo Racing (GR) division still maintaining combustion engines and manual transmission in the future.

Toyota Australia's Vice President Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley said the GR division remains committed to maintaining gasoline engines and three pedals despite the booming electrification era.

"When we turn to electrification, there is still room to satisfy high-performance car lovers, and fans will be enthusiastic about this," Hanley said as quoted by the CarSales page, Thursday, February 27.

Hanley said the maintenance of the combustion engine can also excite high-performance car enthusiasts at any time and believe the ICE engine and manual transmission can last for a long time.

"It was the strong relationship between the driver and the engine that sparked the passion of the car enthusiasts, and we have absolutely no intention of leaving him in the future," added Hanley.

In the midst of the onslaught of electrification, Toyota believes there are various ways to maintain combustion engines in the future. Several ways include innovating with hydrogen fuel cells maupu e-Fuels.

However, Hanley also emphasized that the space for electric vehicles with GR emblems is still very open and does not rule out the possibility that they will be present in the future.

"We want GR to be a 'one-stop shop' for high-performance car enthusiasts and fans," concluded Hanley.