Toyota BZ4X 2025 News

The electric car onslaught will continue in 2026 with the announcement of more than 20 new models in Australia.

Toyota is a big believer in hybrid tech, and its latest claim shames electric cars.Toyota Chairman, Akio Toyoda, recently spoke to US publication Automotive News and the interview has since been published on the company’s in-house outlet, the Toyota Times.Toyoda, whose predecessors started the company, explained the massive impact its hybrids have had on the environment.“We have sold some 27 million hybrids. Those hybrids have had the same impact as 9 million BEVs on the road,” said Toyoda.No car company has yet to sell 9 million electric cars, though Tesla and BYD are very close, which in theory means Toyota has done the most to cut emissions.Toyoda broke it down even further and said if Toyota had built 9 million EVs in Japan the environmental impact would have been much worse than the hybrids.“But if we were to have made 9 million BEVs in Japan, it would have actually increased the carbon emissions, not reduced them. That is because Japan relies on the thermal power plants for electricity.”This is because the production of batteries and electric car components that need rare earth metals are very energy intensive when mining, refining, shipping and the rest are taken into account. Even post production, where an EV is driven makes a huge difference to its emissions, with the energy mix of the country or whether charged with rooftop solar impacting its emissions.This all brings us back to Toyota multi-pathway approach, which is Toyota putting on an each way bet, or more accurately betting on every runner in the field.Toyota believes the best way to reduce emission is through a variety of technologies and not just battery electric vehicles.The company has been very vocal about that last point, that EVs alone aren’t the answer.“When the term carbon neutrality became popular, we said as a company the enemy is carbon. We have to focus on what we can do immediately to reduce carbon dioxide. That is the basis of our decision. It has not changed and will not change,” said Toyoda. “We should look at all options and work in all directions. As a company, we have been very consistent in saying what we’re fighting against is carbon dioxide.”There is no denying Toyota has been slow to join the electric car party.Hybrids are all the rage right now, but it currently sells just the bZ4X in Australia, which is a very slow seller and is outsold by machines from new brands such as the Geely EX5.Kia sold twice as many EV5 electric SUVs in May as Toyota has sold bZ4Xs this year alone. Kia has a more multi-pathway line-up with its range of hybrids, petrol-powered and electric vehicles.Toyota has promised more electric vehicles with the electric C-HR due next year and there is the promise of six models by 2026 including a ute and potentially a 4WD. There are also a range of for China-only EVs.If they’ll be strong sellers or also-rans is yet to be seen, but Toyota has given its rivals a mighty head start.

Toyota has revealed its potent new electric SUV.Dubbed the bZ4X Touring, it is a stretched version of the bZ4X SUV that is currently on sale.It is confirmed to land in Australian showrooms in the first half of next year, and resembles an EV version of the Subaru Outback SUV-cum-wagon.Toyota hasn’t revealed many details yet, but it will have two electric motors pumping out 280kW sent to all four wheels.It will come with the same circa-75kWh battery as the refreshed standard bZ4X, which should push its driving range past 500km but exact specification will be revealed closer to the car’s launch date.Toyota won’t reveal prices until closer to its launch date but expect it to be pricier than the current all-wheel drive version of the standard bZ4X that will set customers back about $80,000 drive-away.That price would put it at a substantial disadvantage compared to fellow mid-size EVs such as the Tesla Model Y and Kia EV5 and the wave of Chinese newcomers such as the XPeng G6 and Geely EX5.Toyota's current bZ4X sales run rate is about 80 cars a month, which puts it at about 1000 a year and substantially below rivals.Toyota Australia’s sales and marketing chief, Sean Hanley, said the vehicle would appeal to those in need of extra cargo space and the bigger battery and all-wheel-drive set-up would appeal to those wanting to do long-distance touring.The bZ4X Touring is expected to come with the same upgrades earmarked for the standard version later this year.That means a new 14-inch multimedia screen and 7.0-inch driver display.It’ll have roof rails and chunky wheel-arch guards and rear cladding that give it strong Subaru Outback vibes.The reveal of the new body shaped variant of the bZ4X follows the reveal of the electric C-HR, which is believed to be headed our way in the coming years.Toyota said the CH-R EV's max driving range is 600km via the benchmark WLTP testing cycle, but this has not been homologated yet.

Talk of slowing electric car demand in the Australian new car market is rife, but an unexpected voice has said there is big growth coming.Between 2022 and 2023, EV sales increased by a meteoric 161.1 per cent (from 33,410 to 87,217), but in 2024 that increase was just 4.6 per cent. So far in 2025 sales are down 37 per cent.Hybrid and plug-in hybrid car were up about 76.0 and 100 per cent in 2024 — but a senior Toyota executive of all people said EVs will take up a much larger share of the market within the next several years.The reason it might be surprising to hear that come from a Toyota Australia exec — namely Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley — is Toyota currently sells just one electric car in Australia, the bZ4X.In 2024 the brand shifted fewer than 1000 units of the bZ4X, 977 to be specific, compared to the 241,296 total new Toyotas Australians bought for the year.That means that for every (roughly) 241 new Toyotas sold in 2024, just one was a bZ4X. And for every 114 new EVs of any brand, only one was a Toyota.It’s a far cry from the usual one-in-five new cars being a Toyota that the brand has become used to.Toyota’s of course going to have to find a way to increase its share of the EV market if it’s going to maintain market dominance, but just how much of the market will be electric cars in a few years’ time? What about a decade?“I mean, everyone’s got predictions, but my thoughts around this are BEVs will probably cap it around that 30 to 40 per cent of the market at some point,” Hanley said.“I'm not entirely sure that'll be in the near future, but it'll happen.”Despite the EV slowdown, Hanley said he expects to start seeing more clarity in where the market will plateau for different forms of electrification between 2030 and 2035.“The idea that EVs will keep dropping, dropping, dropping south is not going to happen. They're actually going to grow. Yeah, let's be upfront. They're going to grow.“And that's why we’ve got to be part of that phase, because it's going to happen. NVES will play some role in that growth. But in actual fact, car companies and customers will drive that growth.”So why would a senior executive at a brand that’s currently behind the curve when it comes to EVs be so outwardly confident electric cars are will make up more than a quarter of the market within a decade?After all, Toyota is 19.6 per cent of the new car market overall, but just 0.9 per cent of the new electric car market going by 2024’s sales figures.Hanley said Toyota is going to grow its EV portfolio in Australia, along with the rest of the brand’s ‘multi-pathway approach to decarbonisation’.“Despite popular opinion, Toyota is actually saying Toyota EVs will grow over the next four, five years.“Probably thinking around 30 per cent would be where I see it . But give or take, it could go to 40 right?“That would be the top end, but it certainly will be more than 10 per cent you've seen or the less than 10 per cent you see today.”For reference, Hanley’s correct about the EV sales share still not having reached 10 per cent for a calendar year - 2024’s EV sales share was about 7.6 per cent of the total new car market.What exactly Toyota’s EV line-up for Australia will be isn’t clear — but Toyota Europe is about to unleash a slew of new electric models over the next year or so.The brand just revealed its new C-HR+ electric car in Europe but it seems to be destined only for that market for now.It’s one of at least six EV models Toyota plans to have on sale by 2026 (including the bZ4X), but amongst the teaser silhouettes were two cars that seem much more suited to local tastes — the LandCruiser Se and EPU ute concepts.When they were revealed in 2023, Sean Hanley said the chances of Australia getting them would be “extremely good” if they reach production. It seems now that they will.Hanley reiterates that, aside from the GR sub-brand’s performance cars, Toyota aims to implement some form of electrification on “the vast majority of Toyotas”.“Where it gets interesting is when people hear that, they suddenly think ‘oh, so Toyota is going to be all BEV’,” Hanley said.“Well, no, actually, we're not. That's not what we're saying. When we talk about electrification, we talk about all forms, whether it be plug-in hybrid, battery electric, fuel cell electric or hybrid electric.”How long it takes, and whether Toyota is able to replicate its market dominance within the EV space is yet to be seen, but the brand certainly has a way to go if that’s the aim — the rise from less than one per cent of the electric car market to around 20 per cent to match its overall market position is a long one.

Major updates for Toyota's key EV offering, but will it be enough to woo buyers?

Volvo has launched a more rugged Cross Country variant of its electric EX30 SUV.

Many so-called “all-new” models aren’t all that new. In fact, a sizeable chunk are reskinned versions of what came before, with fresh sheetmetal over the same general hard points.

Is the Toyota bZ4X a sales disaster in Australia? Is Toyota failing at electric vehicles (EVs) generally? And why does senior management reckon there is a stink in the air for all the naysayers?