Shift to EV-only future would spell job losses, Toyota chairman warns

NAGOYA, Japan (Reuters) - A shift to an electric vehicle-only future would lead to job losses among those who have been working on engine-related technologies, including at the many suppliers in the sector, Toyota Motor's chairman said on Thursday.

"There are 5.5 million people involved in the automotive industry in Japan. Among them are those who have been doing engine-related (work) for a long time," Akio Toyoda told reporters.

"If electric vehicles simply become the only choice, including for our suppliers, those people's jobs would be lost," he said, adding he liked gasoline vehicles.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker by sales, has been more cautious in its approach to EVs than other makers. That's helping it currently as global EV sales slow and it benefits from demand for its expanding hybrid line-up, including in its top market the United States.

It champions what it calls a "multi-pathway" strategy toward zero-carbon emissions that includes EVs, hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and other powertrain technology.

In January, Toyoda said EVs would at most account for 30% of the global auto market, with hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell and fuel-burning vehicles making up the rest. He did not specify a timeframe for that forecast.

Toyoda made the comments to reporters at the unveiling of a bust of his father, Shoichiro Toyoda, at Nagoya University in central Japan.

The elder Toyoda, who died aged 97 last year, led Toyota during the 1980s, when the company reshaped the global auto market, upending Detroit's dominance. He also oversaw the launch of the luxury Lexus brand and the Prius hybrid.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by David Dolan and Edwina Gibbs)