Because there were no auto shows over the past year or so, the industry was very wary of coming up with concepts. There were so few of them to come to light since the start of 2020 that they can easily be counted on the fingers of one’s hands. That also makes it incredibly easy to select a favorite from this tiny bunch, and for some of us that would be the bZ4X.
Believe it or not, Toyota, the carmaker that started the whole electrification for the masses craze with the Prius all those years ago, lacks a full-blown EV in its range today. That will change come next year, when a RAV4-sized SUV, built on an entirely new, dedicated platform, will hit the market.
It’s the production version of this here bZ4X concept, first shown by the Japanese in April this year at Auto Shanghai and brought for the first time on U.S. soil this week.
Developed together with Subaru, the bZ4X rides on a dedicated EV platform called e-TNGA—and that's about all the info available for now, as the carmaker still hasn’t shared additional info on the thing.
Given how this is the first in the new bZ line of electric Toyota’s cars, interest in it is, of course, very high. Luckily, the Japanese are telling us we should get the first details on the production version by the end of 2021.
Even if there’s a lot riding on the success of the bZ4X, Toyota is probably not worried. As one of the planet’s largest carmakers, the Japanese have rarely screwed up, and there are slim chances of them doing so now. That is why the expansion of the brand into the electric vehicle market is a gargantuan plan.
Toyota said not long ago it should have no less than 15 full EVs by the middle of the decade—that’s only four short years from now—so expect the market, as soon as the bZ4X here gets rolling, to be literally flooded with other Japanese-made cars as well.
It’s the production version of this here bZ4X concept, first shown by the Japanese in April this year at Auto Shanghai and brought for the first time on U.S. soil this week.
Developed together with Subaru, the bZ4X rides on a dedicated EV platform called e-TNGA—and that's about all the info available for now, as the carmaker still hasn’t shared additional info on the thing.
Given how this is the first in the new bZ line of electric Toyota’s cars, interest in it is, of course, very high. Luckily, the Japanese are telling us we should get the first details on the production version by the end of 2021.
Even if there’s a lot riding on the success of the bZ4X, Toyota is probably not worried. As one of the planet’s largest carmakers, the Japanese have rarely screwed up, and there are slim chances of them doing so now. That is why the expansion of the brand into the electric vehicle market is a gargantuan plan.
Toyota said not long ago it should have no less than 15 full EVs by the middle of the decade—that’s only four short years from now—so expect the market, as soon as the bZ4X here gets rolling, to be literally flooded with other Japanese-made cars as well.