In the early 2000s, the Toyota Prius was received with the kind of excitement now seen in Tesla models. There were waiting lists if you wanted to order one. Celebrities like Ryan Gosling, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz have been strikingly photographed by paparazzi who controlled them. Other car manufacturers were criticized for not making as advanced hybrid models. Nearly 20 years after the second-generation Prius became a sensation, it is Toyota seen as lagging behind in making all-electric cars and SUVs, while others are rushing to compete with Tesla.
The BZ4X, which is being co-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 that lineup, and seven of those electric vehicles will be sold under a new BZ electric vehicle sub-brand. BZ stands for Beyond Zero.
The Japanese carmaker said it plans to offer a total of 70 “electrified” models by 2025, including plug-in hybrids, regular 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 range at full charge. It would be Toyota’s first electric SUV since the Toyota Rav4 EV, which went out of production in 2014. The most recent version of that electric SUV, sold only in some areas of California and only for a few years, was a modified version of the Rav4 SUV equipped with batteries and electric motors supplied by Tesla.