It’s the crossover whose name I have to Google every time I try to tell someone what I’m about to take for a spin: It’s the Toyota bZ4X, and I’m heading out to California at the start of next week to put this new electric vehicle through its paces. What do you want to know?
This crossover was announced in November of last year to some mixed reviews. The “bZ” in its name stands for “beyond zero,” meaning that the EV hopes to be more than just carbon neutral but actively good for the environment, and that moniker is apparently going to be used more frequently in Toyota’s upcoming electric lineup.
The 250-mile bZ4X range is for the XLE front-wheel drive version with one motor; there will also be a two-motor all-wheel-drive version. Toyota did not release a range figure for that one, and it didn’t give pricing for either. The bZ4X will get here in “mid-2022.” I would expect range to be shorter for the AWD version, and the price to be $40,000 or so, or probably something like $39,999. In total, Toyota says it will have 70 “electrified” models by 2025, which includes hydrogen, all-electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid cars. Seven of those will be bZ.
The bZ4X is set to compete with other crossovers, like the Volkswagen ID.4, the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, and the Nissan Ariya — though how it compares drive-wise remains to be seen. I’m going to find that out next Tuesday.
But what do you, the fine readers of Jalopnik, want to know? Are you interested in comparisons to other brands? Do you want me to press Toyota about its naming systems? Do you want a better breakdown of the new systems being introduced on this vehicle, like the X-MODE AWD version? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be happy to provide.