Japan automakers bought time with hybrids, now must spend it on software

Decorations hang from a stage at Toyota Woven City, a real-world prototype city designed as a "living laboratory" for testing and developing future technologies in mobility, sustainability and urban living, developed by Toyota Motor together with Woven by Toyota, in Susono, Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, in September 2025. © ReutersHans Greimel is Asia Editor at Automotive News and co-author of "Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire."