FAW Toyota bets big on electric vehicles to drive up sales

FAW Toyota is ready to charge into the electric vehicle sector, which is expected to become a new driving force of the Sino-Japanese joint venture's booming performance.

Last month, the carmaker gave a preview of its forthcoming all-new electric model, the bZ4X, in Beijing.

The SUV is the first of the bZ series built on the e-TNGA platform that Toyota has developed exclusively for electric vehicles.

The letters bZ stand for beyond zero, which means the Japanese car giant's ambition for the EV is more than zero emissions.

It is also about "you and others, you and your car, you and society, and you and the environment", said the carmaker.

The carmaker said they are referring to the onboard atmosphere, the man and machine interaction, traffic safety, and harmony between man and nature.

The bZ4X, as the first bZ model, features a series of technologies that Toyota has debuted and thus offers surprises in a number of aspects ranging from styling and the interior to driving experience and performance.

In terms of the exterior, its front resembles a hammerhead shark's head, which echoes its dedication to ecological protection and also gives the model a bold look.

Thanks to the e-TNGA platform, the SUV has a wheelbase that extends 2,850 millimeters, rendering extra legroom for both front and rear seats.

"It has the biggest legroom of all vehicles in the segment," said the joint venture.

The model features batteries with an extreme low loss of capacity so that they will remain at 90 percent after a decade.

The joint venture said Toyota's batteries have not seen any accident in 25 years and this record reassures car buyers.

The bZ4X is among the first models to sport the latest version of the carmaker's active safety system, Toyota Safety Sense.

The car has a mode for off-road driving, with Grip-Control newly developed for it.

By leveraging motor drive characteristics, the function can help the model achieve off-road performance that exceeds the expectations of an EV.

The model also has a roof solar panel, which can generate electricity equivalent to 1,800 kilometers of driving distance per year.

FAW Toyota said it will launch the bZ4X in the second half of this year. It is part of seven bZ models that Toyota is planning to launch globally by 2025. Five of them will be introduced into China, said FAW Toyota.

These models are expected to further drive up the joint venture's performance in the Chinese vehicle market.

FAW Toyota has been stepping up efforts in the sector of electrified vehicles since its introduction of the hybrid Prius in 2005.

It has since built up a lineup of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and EVs, alongside gasoline vehicles.

It is also a pioneer in fuel cell vehicles. Its fuel cell vehicle Coaster, also Toyota's first China-made FCV model, served at the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year.

A number of new models, including the Harrier SUV, the RAV4 E+ SUV and the Crown Kluger SUV, have won the hearts of car buyers.

They helped the carmaker to sell 1 million vehicles in a record-breaking 15 months, bringing its total sales in the country to 9 million.

Last year, despite the COVID-19 and chip shortages, FAW Toyota sold 860,019 vehicles, up 8 percent year-on-year.

The joint venture expects its annual sales to exceed 1 million this year, which would enable it to join the ranks of carmakers whose cumulative deliveries have totaled 10 million units in China.

To realize the goal, the carmaker is speeding up the introduction of new products, with the electric bZ4X as the latest example, to offer competitive models in more segments.

FAW Toyota said it is getting prepared in terms of digitalization for its ambitious goal.

Via its smartphone application－which covers six aspects including sales, service as well as charging and mobility－the carmaker is better connected to its customers.

It is also updating services at its extensive sales network of more than 700 dealerships across the country, available from megacities like Beijing and Shanghai down to some much smaller cities.

FAW Toyota is giving a hand to dealerships in cities hit hard by the COVID-19. By the end of March, it offered subsidies worth up to 25,000 yuan ($3,924) to around 247 dealerships affected by the pandemic to help ease their financial pressure.

It has proposed such things as contact-free receptions and door-to-door deliveries to give customers and salespeople a better sense of security.

The carmaker has also scaled down or even removed the sales goals for the affected dealerships so that they can tide over the pandemic.

FAW Toyota is paying homage to doctors and nurses. For medical workers at public hospitals, if they purchase its vehicles at authorized dealerships from now to the end of August, they will be eligible for lifelong basic maintenance free of charge.