Toyota BZ4X News

Toyota is looking to improve its fortunes in China, releasing its latest joint venture with GAC. 

Revealed at the Beijing motor show as one of three new electric vehicles from Toyota as part of its Chinese joint-venture with First Auto Works (FAW), the bZ3C has been further detailed ahead of its launch overseas.

Getting out among new car buyers can be a rare occurrence in this line of work, with a focus on new products and the promises of executives filling our regular days. So it was refreshing to man the CarsGuide EV advice stand at the 2024 Sydney International EV show for the weekend and get some insight into how electric car buyers think. Although it was a smaller footprint than Sydney Motor Shows of old, fervent visitors started filling the halls from 9am on all three days. In total, more than 30,000 bodies passed through the doors over the weekend. The overwhelming takeaway from talking to buyers was this sect of Aussies was not at all concerned about brand history, with Toyota and Ford’s stands dramatically quieter than the barely-known start-ups from China such as Xpeng, Zeekr and Deepal.It helps that these new marques dressed their stands to impress. Aside from a wild flying machine, XPeng also had a luxurious seven-seat people mover essentially purpose-built to generate public interest with a huge rear entertainment screen and ‘business class’ reclining rear seats with heating, cooling and foot rests. The G6 is the first retail model from XPeng and it was also well-trafficked, along with the larger G9 the brand is considering for local release. Zeekr turned up with the X small SUV along with a few extra bits of eye-candy like the confirmed-for-oz 009 people mover, a 475kW 007 sedan in a lewd yellow paint colour and a 001 FR the Geely-owned marque’s Polestar 2-related first model. The other new entrant was Deepal, which is being imported by well-known company Inchcape that also handles Subaru, Foton, Peugeot and previously Citroen. Along with the classic Tesla Model Y rival, the S07 electric family SUV, Deepal had some cool stuff. Namely, a Cybertruck-like electric and range-extender compatible E05 electric sedan-pick-up amalgamation that was catching attention. Kia’s front-and-centre placement helped drive plenty of traffic to the brand’s new EV5 while also making Hyundai’s lack of presence quite obvious. With the Tasman due next year and the EV5’s sharp price, it’s a brand that’s sure to go from strength to strength. Tesla’s presence was held up by the Australian owner’s club while BYD was represented by a dealer, with an unfortunate lack of Shark utes on the stand. It was Ford and Toyota that were visibly the lowest traffic OEMs over the weekend, and Australia’s third most-popular brand Mazda didn’t even turn up with its plug-in hybrids. With a pair of bZ4Xs on display and charge-box-on-wheels, Toyota’s wasn’t exactly a dull stand yet it proves that people are more interested in the whizz-bang new models — that’s the point of a motor show, after all. As for Ford, despite having prime real estate among the newcomers, it seemed that not so many punters were interested in the Mach-E and plug-in hybrid Ford Ranger Stormtrak, even with the ute’s vehicle-to-load system that can power a coffee machine, TV, work tools and more.Some other mainstream carmakers present were Audi, BMW, Cupra and Volvo though these stands were notably smaller than the others. As for other brands from China, Chery and GWM proved relatively popular but the Smart stand was quiet. MG’s choice to only bring a Cyberster rather than the affordable MG4 seemed a bit short-sighted — next year, maybe.The most common line of questioning was if we would recommend the XPeng G6 and what the best alternatives to a Tesla Model Y are — we fielded almost no questions about the bZ4X or plug-in hybrid Ford Ranger Stormtrak. Plenty of test drives were taken over the three days and at one point on Sunday, you would have had to queue for four hours to sample XPeng’s new G6. But what does all this tell us about the new car landscape?MG has already proven sharp pricing can drive mega traffic into electric vehicles and that, when EVs reach parity with combustion-engined and hybrid options, they are much more attractive. In this case, customers aren’t cross-shopping, say, a Tesla Model Y with just other EVs, but similarly-priced combustion and hybrid models, too. Electric cars aren’t competing with themselves, but in a battle to bring the other 90.6 per cent of the new car market out of combustion and hybrid-engined choices. Most worrying for big carmakers, though, will be the lack of brand devotion. Despite what the bZ4X advertising campaign suggests, there were very few talking about Toyota’s proven low-cost servicing or reliability. Instead, the long seven- and even ten-year warranties of newcomers seemed enough to allay most fears. Don’t expect Toyota, Ford or Mazda sales to drop off a cliff anytime soon, but the interest and willingness of local buyers to branch out and sample an unknown product will definitely cause a headache.

You never know what’s going to bob up in an otherwise dry, sombre, Powerpoint-driven financial results presentation.

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?

Toyota has delayed plans to build electric vehicles in the United States by several months amid dwindling sales.

Australia’s favourite car brand has taken a shot at electric car-only brands such as Tesla and Polestar.Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations intimated car makers that only sell EVs are in for a tough time.“I’m not sure I’d want to be a single EV-only manufacturer right now,” said Hanley.“People are now moving back to hybrid and particularly plug-in hybrid. Interesting.”Sales of hybrid cars such as the Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Kona are up more than 113 per cent through the first six months of this year.Toyota announced last week it had delivered more than 100,000 hybrids in Australia the past financial year. The RAV4 led the charge with 38,632 sales for in the past 12 months, followed by the Corolla (20,375), Camry (16,872), Corolla Cross (7,876), Kluger (7,311) and Yaris Cross (6,077).Plug-in hybrids are in a similar purple patch with sales up by about 130 per cent this year.Electric cars sales have plateaued after a very strong 2023 with sales up 16.5 per cent this year. EV sales were up more than 160 per cent last year.Toyota has always maintained battery electric cars are just part of the future mix of vehicles and they are a long way from becoming the default choice of buyers.“Toyota's always been about the long term: we don't plan for five years, we plan for 20 to 30 years. And that's what you're seeing right now in play is that multi pathways strategy that we've been talking about for a long time,” said Hanley.Toyota just launched its first electric car - the bZ4X - in Australia earlier this year with mixed results. It has only sold 555 examples since February compared to Tesla shifting 23,116 examples of its Model Y and Model 3 in the same time.Hanley said the company wouldn't follow Tesla and slash the price of its EV.Despite their increasing popularity Toyota Australia still does not sell any plug-in hybrids locally despite offering plug-in hybrid versions of the Prius, C-HR and RAV4 overseas.Hanley promised a wide variety of vehicles were on the agenda for Toyota in Australia.“100 per cent you can expect hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles and I dare say some time in the future even synthetic fuel vehicles, hydrogen conversion vehicles of conventional ICE engines are also something we are considering,” he said.Toyota has long been a champion of hydrogen power and it currently has a fleet of Mirai Fuel Cell vehicles trialling in Australia.Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles convert hydrogen to electricity that is stored in a battery, which then powers an electric motor. The only tailpipe emissions is water.Hanley previously told CarsGuide hydrogen fuel cell vehicles won’t be popular for the next three to five years but will become more important in the future. Refuelling infrastructure is one of the biggest problems with only a handful of outlets nationwide.He did say Toyota Australia will sell a hydrogen fuel cell car in the next two years, but only in areas where there is the infrastructure to support it which, reading between the lines, means Canberra.

The Toyota bZ4X will launch in Australia with two powertrain options, and will be priced from $?????

We already know what will be the biggest-selling vehicles in 2024. The usual suspects like the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Toyota RAV4. But what about the most important models for each of the biggest brands? The new additions that will either become the next best-seller or represent a new avenue for our biggest carmakers. Here they are.

Toyota has finally pulled the covers off the updated version of its long-delayed bZ4X electric vehicle (EV). But a Band-Aid would have sufficed, because the only external changes over the "old" version is the addition of a discreet 'BEV' badge on the charging flap – though Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) models also now gain the gloss-black plastic trim usually reserved for some other markets.