Toyota bZ3X: Electric alternative C-HR and Corolla Cross – Preview

Highlights

• Electric SUV-like
• Built on E-TNGA platform
• Range of about 400 kilometers

When it comes to hybrid drive, Toyota has played an absolute pioneering role. As early as 1997, the Japanese introduced the world’s first mass-produced hybrid passenger car with the Prius. Cars with hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrains can no longer be ignored in Europe, but it is mainly the advance of the EV that cannot be stopped these days. Certainly not in Western Europe. Toyota is one of the brands that has not yet set a hard limit to the existence of cars with combustion engines, partly because CEO Akio Toyoda believes that not every car market is ready to switch to EVs alone. It is therefore not for nothing that Toyota takes the development of, for example, cars with a fuel cell (FCEVs) very seriously and is even investigating whether hydrogen can be used in combustion engines. Does it then ignore the all-electric car? No. In fact, it will come with a range of new electric models in the coming years.

While Hyundai hangs its EVs under the Ioniq label, Toyota has devised the designation bZ for this. The bZ4X was the first Toyota developed as an EV to be hung under the bZ umbrella. In the naming, the number indicates the positioning in the range, the possible ‘X’ means that you are dealing with a crossover or SUV. So it makes perfect sense that the mid-sized electric sedan that Toyota introduced in China in 2022 listens to the name bZ3. Toyota, its Chinese joint venture FAW Toyota and the Chinese BYD jointly developed this model, which is not coming to Europe. Toyota does enter the segment of compact mid-sized cars with an electric SUV-like. You guessed it: it will almost certainly be called bZ3X.

Daring

The fact that Toyota is coming up with a more compact electric long-legged vehicle is hardly surprising, especially since the brand was looking ahead to such a model in November last year with the bZ Compact SUV Concept. That already looked quite production-ready, so we drummed up our digital drawing master to make a presentation of the final version. The bZ3X will be a crossover with a relatively steeply sloping roofline, which Toyota combines with a strikingly rising shoulder line at the rear door. As with the new Prius – and the C-HR – the rear door handles are hidden in the C-pillars. From the front, the bZ3X is unmistakably a Toyota. At the front, the bZ Compact SUV Concept has the now well-known C-shaped headlights that are completely Toyota-new style. This design language is not reserved for the bZ line, because the Prius has a similar design at the front. Toyota’s designers have also shown their cheeky side when drawing the angular rear. We see flat, sleek taillights and a fairly flat rear window with a roof spoiler above it with two longer parts.

While Toyota applies a few design tricks in the exterior of the bZ3X, the interior is expected to be minimalistic. Count on a workplace that contains little more than a digital set of instruments, an infotainment screen and a handful of buttons.

Toyota bZ3X (Illustration: Larson).

Full house

Toyota’s delivery range is now starting to fill up considerably. For example, the brand has a set of SUVs and crossovers that are quite close together in terms of placement. A step above the Yaris Cross is the eccentric Toyota C-HR, a ‘Corolla-based’ model with the Corolla Cross as a less pronounced alternative. The Toyota bZ3X will soon be the electric alternative for the upcoming new (second) generation C-HR and Corolla Cross.

He has a length of 4.55 meters. For comparison: the new C-HR will soon stretch over 4.37 meters, the Corolla Cross will measure almost 4.5 meters. Under the skin we naturally encounter a variant of Toyota’s modular E-TNGA base. Count on an electric driving range of about 400 kilometers, although Toyota can go above and below that by introducing different battery packs and electric motors. Don’t be surprised if the battery pack of the bZ3X, just like that of the Chinese bZ3, comes from BYD. The Chinese manufacturer already supplies its so-called Blade Battery in the Tang, Han and its electric SUV Atto 3. In the latter, the package is 60 kWh.

As mentioned, Toyota – if we forget the Mirai for a moment – currently only has one fully electric car on the menu. In 2026 there should be six. Given the importance of compact mid-sized cars and the popularity of SUV-types and crossovers, Toyota is smart to speed up the development of the bZ3X.