Toyota's impression of not being active in electric vehicles may soon be shattered by the sudden arrival of a full range of pure electric models.
Toyota, which prides itself on oil-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell technology, will have any superiority in the field of pure electric vehicles to break the current balance of China's electric vehicles?
The BZ4X is unique with Subaru's dual-vehicle strategy, the X-Mode four-wheel drive system derived from Subaru, the world's exclusive two-color front face design, linear steering technology and special-shaped steering wheel, as well as the ultra-high standard of 90% battery capacity retention rate for 10 years.
As the first pure electric model of Toyota's e-TNGA pure electric platform, the bZ4X has been officially launched in global markets such as North America and Japan. After the domestic version of FAW Toyota was unveiled in the new car catalog of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the GAC Toyota version also appeared in the latest 355th batch of new car catalogs.
As Toyota's exclusive new energy vehicle plant in China, it is also the latest and most advanced factory, FAW Toyota's sixth plant and GAC Toyota's fifth plant will be officially put into use, and then the pure electric vehicles of the bZ series will be accelerated.
North and South Toyota adopted the global name of "bZ4X" in the promotional copy, and now it is finally confirmed that Toyota China will adopt a unified naming and design for this model, which is the first time in the history of Chinese automobile joint ventures.
Under the same model platform, interior and power, the models belonging to the two joint venture car companies, using different designs and names, from Volkswagen, Honda to Toyota, the dual-vehicle strategy has rapidly increased its number of models and market share in the Chinese market.
When China's new cars have initially gained a firm foothold in the market, independent traditional car companies are accelerating electrification, Volkswagen ID pure electric vehicles still continue the dual-car strategy, but they can not reproduce the market leadership of fuel vehicles, and Honda's e:N pure electric dual vehicles have just been released, and the practice of "oil to electricity" is more confusing.
In the Japanese market, which Toyota is unbeatable, Toyota announced that the bZ4X will only be rented and not sold, due to concerns about the market and users' "worries" about pure electric vehicles, and the supply will be limited in 2022, and the production will only be 5,000 units.
The Japanese market may be the mainstream automobile market with the lowest demand for pure electric vehicles in the global market, and the oil-electric hybrid system of toyota, Nissan and Honda, the three major Japanese brands, has gained solid user recognition here.
Just like the smartphone market of that year, this quasi-isolated Japanese market, even Tesla has nothing to do.
In addition to the Japanese market, bZ4X is aimed at retail in both the North American and European markets, and the Chinese market is no exception.
With detailed investigation and cognition of competitors and the Chinese market, Toyota, which has accumulated a lot of money, may be ready to launch operational markets such as online ride-hailing, such as the dual engine model appearing in its joint venture with Didi, Fengju Travel.
The biggest concern of users for electric vehicles, in addition to intelligence is the power battery.
Toyota has a 25-year history of electrifying vehicles, with sales of more than 20 million units, which is difficult for global car companies to match. Confident in the electrification system, in the Chinese automotive market, GAC Toyota provides a worry-free guarantee of "unlimited years and unlimited mileage" for its oil-electric hybrid models such as camry dual engine and Highlander dual engine.
Panasonic is Toyota's power battery supplier in the global market, in the Chinese market, Toyota requires CATL to build an exclusive production line for it, which is behind the commitment of scale production, but also the specific embodiment of the high-quality requirements for power batteries.
Toyota promises a maximum 10-year/1 million km warranty for the bZ4X in the global market and a 70% battery capacity retention rate for 10 years/200,000 km in Japan. Although the 90% battery capacity retention rate in 10 years is only Toyota's development goal, will it become a promised standard in the Chinese market to eliminate users' concerns and thus gain the trust of users alone?
Whether it is the operating market such as online car, or the real and reliable experience of power batteries, the biggest change in Toyota's pure electric vehicle is that the domestic models of Toyota in the north and south adopt a unified appearance and naming, and users may have to encounter a historical problem: whether to choose FAW Toyota or GAC Toyota?
Corolla and Leiling, Crown Land and Highlander, and even Camry and Asia Dragon, we are more about choosing between model naming and appearance, more users rarely consider the difference between FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota, after all, such a difference is more of a difference in after-sales service and after-sales costs, this problem we will not start here for the time being.
For this bZ4X, in front of the user on the surface is the brand dispute between the north and the south Toyota, who is more trustworthy, and this problem has its own scale in the heart of each user, in fact, this bZ4X is the ultimate strength battle between the two joint venture car companies.
Without the endorsement of global model reputation, the first unified appearance and naming in the Chinese market, and the fact that it is a pure electric vehicle of Toyota, how FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota will eventually perform will once again test whether the joint venture car companies have their own endogenous strength, or whether it is only the zero contribution of "take-ism".
This bZ4X is not only Toyota's first new pure electric model, but also the beginning of Toyota's policy changes in China. Looking at the bigger picture, who knows, lexus will also achieve domestic production in such a unique way?
As the only brand among mainstream car brands that has not yet been domestically produced, Lexus's domestic production process has been delayed again and again. With 17 consecutive years of sales growth, with more than 220,000 vehicles sold in the Chinese market in 2021, accounting for nearly 30% of global sales, Lexus has a sufficient market and user base in China.
With the bZ4X on the same platform, Lexus' first pure electric model RZ is about to be released, will electrification become a catalyst for Lexus domestic production?
Toyota needs to consider multiple factors for Lexus domestic production, so let's make a choice for Toyota:
FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota, which Lexus do you prefer to offer? Or in reality, which bZ4X would you choose?