For electric vehicles, Toyota has been saying "no" from the past to the present, and the company's CEO Akio Toyoda has attacked electric vehicles more than once in public, saying that electric vehicle environmental protection is only a false proposition, and electric vehicles are not the main form of new energy vehicles in the future. I have to say that although the slogan is very loud, in the final analysis, it is because I saw that other car companies were launching electric vehicles at the same time, but they were empty-handed, and they failed to make a penny in it, and the psychological imbalance was just that.
Finally, Toyota still couldn't resist and released 15 electric concept cars on December 14, covering models ranging from the smallest K-CAR, hatchback, sedan, SUV, MPV, van and other types. Toyota, which has always scoffed at electric cars, now has to compromise for the sake of making a living.
It is worth noting that among these more than a dozen new cars, this concept car called Bz SDN has attracted people's attention, because the silhouette of the new car does not seem to be like Toyota's usual style, and the design of BYD Qin PLUS is quite similar. Some people speculate that its production version is a new electric vehicle jointly developed by BYD and Toyota. If it goes well, its debut time will be set for next year's Beijing Auto Show, and it will be officially put on sale at the end of the year.
In terms of details, the front face is still a return to the Toyota electric vehicle family design, canceling the traditional air intake grille, so that people can recognize its electric vehicle identity at a glance, and the through-type light strip and the daytime running lights on both sides are integrated, improving the recognition while further stretching the horizontal visual width. The underwing is painted in black to accentuate the sporty atmosphere.
The side waistline is quite sharp, combined with the concave at the front panel, combined into a "Z" shape, and the front and rear raised wheel eyebrows make the car look more low and powerful. In addition, as an electric vehicle, hidden door handles and low wind resistance wheel hubs are also an indispensable design.
The interior part has not yet been announced, but according to Toyota's consistent use orientation, there should not be much fresh design. For details, you can refer to the BZ4x, which is also Toyota.
Since it is a model jointly created with BYD, it is naturally indispensable to configure blade batteries, which not only have more advantages in stability, but also reduce costs, which is very close to the car-making concept that Toyota has been pursuing. It is reported that the price of this new car is expected to be maintained below 200,000.
Toyota and BYD cooperation is no secret, Toyota and BYD signed a contract in 2019 to jointly develop pure electric models of cars and SUVs and power batteries applied to them. Then, in March last year, Toyota and BYD formally cooperated on the basis of the contract, and the two sides each invested 50% to establish a pure electric vehicle research and development company, and the cooperative relationship between the two sides was formally established.
BYD's rapid development in recent years is an important reason for Toyota to choose it, released a blade battery in the field of pure electricity, and the first Han EV of the battery has been enthusiastically sought after by the market, and at the beginning of this year, it launched the DM-i super hybrid that can set a monument in the history of hybrid power, solving the problem of excessive fuel consumption of plug-in hybrid systems in the case of power loss. In terms of sales, BYD's new energy vehicles are also a ride, even better than Tesla. The market acceptance is high, and Toyota's choice to cooperate with BYD will not deduct points for its reputation, but may become a plus. Finally, I am also very much looking forward to what excellent works can be brought to us in the future after this combination of strong and powerful forces?