Tokyo, Dec. 14– CEO Akio Toyoda of Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) made an announcement to release a fleet of 15 EV lineup into 2030, among which the bZ SDN concept car will be the first pure EV built by Toyota and BYD Company Limited (002594.SZ) together. This new model will debut at the Beijing Auto Show next year and is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2022.
(Photo Credit: Toyota Motor Corporation)
Toyota bZ SDN concept vehicle belongs to the bZ ‘beyond zero’ sub-brand, positioned as a pure electric medium-sized vehicle. The mass-production version released in the future will adopt the ferrous lithium phosphate blade battery technology from BYD, and it may be priced less than $31,420. Some believe that the bZ SDN are looking to compete with the Model 3, and could also win over potential Corolla and Camry shoppers.
Equipped with BYD’s lithium iron phosphate blade battery, Toyota bZ SDN concept car draws its design from Toyota’s bZ4X. With an aggressive front, Toyota styles the bZ SDN concept vehicle with a through-LED light belt design, equipped with a headlight cluster almost identical to that of Toyota bZ4X, and with lower envelope on both sides of the spoiler design.
On July 19, 2019, BYD and Toyota entered an agreement to jointly develop battery electric vehicles. While Toyota has been a long term devotee in hybrid and hydrogen energy, it has also begun research and development of all-solid-state batteries. Under such collaboration, Toyota bZ SDN concept vehicles may benefit from BYD’s battery development technologies.
