Toyota Postpones Construction of Electric Car Factory in Japan

KatadataOTO – Toyota has once again postponed its plan to build an electric vehicle factory in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. This decision shows that the company is being very cautious in making decisions related to electric vehicles.

It cannot be denied that sales of Toyota's electric cars are indeed slower compared to hybrids. Nevertheless, they affirm that they will still proceed with the construction of EV production facilities.

Moreover, the manufacturer has paid 6 billion yen to secure the construction site in an industrial area. They also revealed that construction will begin within the next three years.

It should be noted that this is the second postponement made by the company. The construction process was supposed to have started last March, with production beginning in 2028.

Photo : Courtesy

Nevertheless, Toyota has invested heavily in building a new factory in Shanghai, China. The facility is planned to start operations in 2027 and will produce Lexus electric cars.

Toyota Sales Grow

Despite postponing the construction of the electric car factory, global sales for Toyota and Lexus grew in the first half of the 2026 fiscal year. They successfully produced and sold 5.2 million vehicles to customers.

This figure is even higher than the same period last year, which was only 5.02 million units. From that total, sales of electrified vehicles experienced a significant surge in demand.

In its official report, the manufacturer shipped 2.47 million units, a growth compared to last year. At that time, the manufacturer was only able to sell 2.23 million units.

This achievement means that electrified Toyota and Lexus cars accounted for 46.9 percent of total sales.

Photo : Reuters

Looking in more detail, hybrid cars are the most sought-after electrified vehicles. This is because 2.27 million units were successfully sold to the market.

This figure is much higher than EVs, of which only 101,000 units were sold. Its sales grew from last year's 78,000 units.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Toyota is still the largest car company. In October 2025, they delivered 21,504 vehicles to customers.

The company's total sales in the country were 209,387 units, equivalent to 31.7 percent of total national retail sales.