Toyota confirms front-drive ‘Pure’ and all-wheel-drive ‘Motion’.

FORMAL confirmation has come from Toyota New Zealand that its first full electric model will not now achieve sale in 2023.

News of the bZ4X having delayed until early 2024 first hinted a month ago and comes with the Palmerston North-based distributor affirming it will deliver the RAV4-sized sports utility wagon in two drive formats.

Whereas Subaru New Zealand is intent to have only an all-wheel-drive edition of the Solterra, its version of the same product, TNZ is also taking a front-drive model that will presumably act as the price leader below e all-wheel-drive.

Technical detail about the conjoined models was released more than year ago and at that time TNZ was expressing high confidence of having theirs in the second half of 2023. 

Subaru NZ insists it will still have its first customer cars in circulation by December - a timing that is also around six months behind original schedule.

TNZ again reiterated today that the bZ4X front-drive is to be badged ‘Pure’ and the AWD will be ‘Motion’ but is keeping specification details to itself. Likewise the pricing, though it is suggesting anyone keen on the car should think about placing an order via its website.

The bZ4X and Solterra run with a 71.4 lithium ion battery as does a third car on the same TNGA-E platform that has recently come on sale, the Lexus RZ 450e. However, the Lexus is positioned as a full-scale luxury model an has a more powerful drivetrain, so entertains a much higher price, $141,600 and $151,600. 

The bZ4X and Solterra have become controversial cars. Their production was curtailed just after it began, due to a design flaw that created potential for the wheels to come off. 

Range has also become a touchy subject, with many independent testers citing the WLTP measurements of 460km for the dual motor models, and an additional 70kms for the front drive, are not achievable. 

More recently, too, Toyota Japan has made TNGA-E will short-lived. Last month it announced intent to instead develop another platform, and more advanced batteries, to enable far more ambitious performance and targets. However, the first car from that programme is unlikely to come out until 2025.

In commenting its media share today that the car’s battery “can be charged to 80 percent in 30 minutes at a 150kW charging station”, TNZ is repeating a contention that landed the brand in hot water in the United Kingdom.

The Advertising Standards Authority,there, acting on complaint about text on Toyota UK’s website using much the same wording in March of 2022, found there were “significant limitations” to achieving the advertised charging rate. The wording had been changed before the advertising watchdog banned the promotion last week.

Elsewhere in its supplied comment today, TNZ reinstated commitment to bZ - which is in-house shorthand for ‘beyond zero’ the name which corrals its electric, electrified and hydrogen fuel cell programmes.

The national distributor says bZ will introduce new driving experiences, new technologies to connect with each other, a zero emissions performance, and a zero-harm experience with additional safety features. 

TNZ vice president of new vehicles, Steve Prangnell, says the aim is not just to create electric vehicles that eliminate emissions, but to also offer new mobility solutions and maintain an enjoyable driving experience. 

“We are aiming to create value for people and the planet beyond zero emissions. The Toyota bZ4X SUV is the first of a range of battery electric vehicles (BEV) that we will launch in NZ, which will appeal to everyday New Zealanders, as they are borne of the same stable that has created Toyota’s legendary well-built, easy-to-drive vehicles.”