In the early 2000s, the Toyota Prius was greeted with the kind of excitement now seen by Tesla models. There were waiting lists if you want to order one. Celebrities such as Ryan Gosling, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz were visibly photographed by the paparazzi leading them. Other carmakers were criticized for not making more advanced hybrid models like this. Nearly 20 years after the second-generation Prius became a sensation, however, Toyota is considered to be behind in creating all-electric cars and SUVs, while others are rushing to compete with Tesla.
The BZ4X, which is being developed with Subaru, is one of 15 all-electric vehicles Toyota plans to offer globally by 2025, the company said. There will be at least one electric pickup in this formation and seven of these electric vehicles will be sold with a new BZ secondary brand for electric vehicles. BZ means Beyond Zero.
The Japanese automaker said it plans to offer a total of 70 “electrified” models by 2025, including plug-in hybrids, normal hybrids and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Toyota will manufacture the BZ4X in China and sell it globally by mid-2022. The company did not provide details about the vehicle, such as the expected price or the full-load driving range. It would be Toyota’s first electric SUV since the Toyota Rav4 EV, which went out of production in 2014. The latest version of this electric SUV, which was sold only in parts of California and for only a couple of years, was a modified version of the Rav4 SUV equipped with batteries and electric motors supplied by Tesla.