Toyota has confirmed plans to launch an “in-house venture company” that will be responsible for developing electric vehicles. The start-up will begin work next month, and consists of just four people, each from a different branch of the Toyota group. The Japanese marque says the small manpower of the project should actually lead to accelerated development with fast-to-market products thanks to “unconventional work processes”, and the group will have access to the technical know-how of the entire Toyota group. • Best electric cars to buy right now Toyota president Akio Toyoda said that the venture company “will embrace speed in its approach to work”. Toyota is shifting attention away from fuel-cell vehicles like the Mirai and onto EVs as right now they are more viable as mainstream cars. While fuel-cell cars offer range and fuelling times comparable with conventional cars – making them ideal eco-cars in Toyota’s mind - the lack of hydrogen infrastructure means they cannot compete with EVs when it comes to adoption rates. There are only eight hydrogen filling stations in the UK, compared to thousands of electric car charging points. However, Toyota has said it will continue to support fuel-cell vehicles alongside the development of its new EVs.

There are no official details regarding platforms, powertrains or even a loose timeline, but a report issued last week by Japanese newspaper Nikkei claims Toyota is plotting an EV with a 186-mile range by 2020. The same report suggests Toyota's first EV could borrow its platform from the Prius – a timesaving move that could cut development costs. It also mentions that the car could be an SUV, but we’ve heard Toyota’s Aygo city car is under consideration for electric power. Next generation Aygo to go electric? Toyota could split its next Aygo city car from its sister cars from Citroen and Peugeot by offering it with an electric powertrain, Auto Express can reveal. The new Aygo could form part of a new swing towards all-electric Toyotas with more pure EV models planned by the firm from 2020 onwards. The current Toyota Aygo is produced alongside the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1 at a single factory and the three models share the majority of their mechanical components - a bid by the manufacturers to make money in an area of the market with notoriously tight margins. However, Toyota’s European President & CEO Johan van Zyl has suggested that while his company is targeting hybrid vehicles in every area of the market where it is present, the smallest class of car - the A-segment where the Aygo competes - could require a different solution.