The all-new bZ4X, the first model in Toyota’s new bZ (beyond zero) family of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), is due to arrive in Ireland from June this year.
Toyota Ireland says that it will be available in three specification grades, the ‘Advance’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Premiere Edition’, with prices starting from €43,402 plus delivery and related fees.
The automaker plans a full line-up of electrified vehicles, to add to its petrol hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles.
Toyota says that the bZ4X is a spacious, comfortable SUV, with a new all-wheel drive system that it claims provides class-leading off-road handling and performance, with separate electric motors for each axle.
It adds that the bZ4X has been designed with the driver in mind and incorporates the ‘hands on the wheel, eyes on the road’ principle, with what it terms its human-centred cockpit. It says that the seven-inch TFT instrument and information display sit directly in the driver’s forward eye-line, above the line of the steering wheel.
Toyota has come late to the all-electric cars market with others such as Volkswagen powering on. It states that it continues to see hybrid technology as a key cornerstone in the move towards more sustainable motoring.
However, the Japanese carmaker says that with years of experience in electrified vehicle battery technology (for hybrids), it has secured world-leading quality, durability and reliability for the lithium-ion unit which powers the bZ4X.
With a fully charged battery, Toyota says that it expects the new model to have a range of more than 450km, but adds that this depends on the grade. Exact data relating to this claim to be confirmed pending final homologation.
What’s more, Toyota says that after 10 years of driving, it expects the battery to still operate at 90 per cent of its original performance.
However, target values during development guarantee it will cover up to 70 per cent of its original battery capacity after a decade of ownership, or 240,000 kilometres driven, which ever comes first. This is subject to the customer taking their vehicle to an authorised Toyota service centre for an annual health check.
Toyota reminds us that the bZ4X is also the first to use the company’s new BEV-dedicated platform. It incorporates the battery unit as an integral part of the chassis, beneath the vehicle floor. The carmaker say that this benefits a low centre of gravity, excellent front/rear weight balance and high body rigidity, all of which make a positive contribution to safety, ride and handling.
Toyota Ireland says that it anticipates demand to be high, and invites interested parties to visit its website to place their reservation and contact their local dealer who can bring them through everything they need to know.
The brand expects that the 2022 bZ4X allocation will be pre-sold before its arrival in June.
