While many of the world’s major automakers were preparing the eulogy for the internal-combustion engine a few years back, Toyota was knee-deep in development of a highly advanced V8 engine. Its chief at the time, Akio Toyoda, took his fair share of heat from the media and investors obsessed with ESG mandates, but his strategy to hedge his bets, focusing on internal-combustion engines alongside EVs, proved correct in the end.
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