Toyota’s chairman has warned the brand ‘cannot survive’ if it maintains a ‘business-as-usual’ stances as the Japanese giant confirmed the next-generation of its iconic small car, the Corolla, will be offered with a battery-electric powertrain alongside hybrid, plug-in hybrid and petrol variants.

According to Electrek.co, which reported on an NHK documentary that aired in Japan last weekend, the next-generation Corolla is being developed at a confidential Toyota engineering facility as the company accelerates its response to rapidly changing global market conditions.

The 50-minute NHK program followed engineers working on the new Corolla, giving viewers a rare glimpse inside Toyota’s development process and revealing what the broadcaster described as a growing sense of urgency within the company.

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The outlet reported Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda told NHK that the biggest threat facing the world’s largest carmaker wasn’t new technology or emerging competitors, but complacency.

“There seems to be a considerable sense of crisis within the company,” Toyoda told the doco-makers during a rare behind-the-scenes special at Toyota’s development site for the next-generation Corolla electric vehicle (EV). Toyoda framed complacency, not competition itself, as the existential threat: “If that happens, it’s over.”

The documentary also featured candid comments from Toyota engineers, with one reportedly admitting the company was falling behind Chinese manufacturers in some areas of vehicle development as brands such as BYD continue to shorten development cycles and expand their electric vehicle line-ups.

Prototype vehicles shown during the program closely resembled the Corolla Concept unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show, featuring a sleeker, lower-slung design than today’s model. A closed-off grille and visible charging port suggested an all-electric version is already well advanced.

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Toyota has previously confirmed the next Corolla will ride on an all-new platform capable of supporting multiple powertrains, allowing battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid and conventional petrol models to be built from the same architecture. Several body styles, including sedan, hatchback, crossover and a GR performance model, were also reportedly shown in development during the documentary.

With more than 57 million Corollas sold since the model debuted in 1966, the arrival of an electric version would mark one of the most significant changes in the nameplate’s 60-year history, signalling Toyota’s determination to remain competitive as the global market increasingly shifts towards electrification.