Toyota's Flagship Chinese EV Has Some Pretty Cool Features

The new Toyota flagship sedan, an electric vehicle (EV) called the bZ7, was developed for Toyota in China by GAC, (Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd.), Toyota's joint venture GTMC, and Toyota's Intelligent ElectroMobility R&D Center. Because EVs make up a large percentage of sales in the Chinese domestic market, Toyota went with a partnership that combines, "...Toyota's safe, reliable, and high-quality manufacturing and China's advanced technology," as the company said in a blog post. The result is a large sedan, five meters long, with some amazing features. In size, it is slightly longer than a Tesla Model S. Its front-end styling is similar to other Toyotas such as the Prius, which shares the Toyota bZ7's 'hammerhead' design language. While Toyota is well-known for its excellent, fuel-saving hybrid vehicles, it has not exactly been at the EV forefront, even though Toyota does have a fully electric car on the market. 

 Primary among advanced features on the Toyota bZ7 are Huawei's HarmonyCockpit, integrated with Xiaomi's smart ecosystem called "Human x Car x Home," for control of smart home appliances through your smartphone or the car's infotainment system. Huawei also provides the bZ7's electric motors.  Another key element of the bZ7 is the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor on the roof, which will utilize the Momenta 6.0 smart driving system on upper trim levels of the car. The bZ7 started as a concept, has entered production, and is a prime example of how Toyota was slow to full EVs but it's done playing around.

Inside the Toyota bZ7, you are greeted by an elegant and minimalistic interior design. A large touchscreen floats in the center of the dash, with an instrument panel in front of the driver. Tasteful wood accents are sprinkled throughout, with ambient lighting also included. A two-tone steering wheel with built-in controls faces the driver. A small roof console, located between the sun visors, holds additional controls. The exterior styling of the Toyota bZ7 also displays the elegance of its design, with some sportiness added through the use of an aerodynamic fastback roofline using frameless doors and ending in a ducktail spoiler. The bZ7 rides on 21" multi-spoke alloy rims shod with 255/40R21 tires. It is a very attractive car that could definitely join the list of unexpectedly luxurious Toyota models that could rival cars from Lexus.

Motive power for the Toyota bZ7 comes from a single Huawei motor producing 278 horsepower, which can propel it to a maximum speed of 180 km/h (111.8 mph). The bZ7 derives its energy from a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery that comes from CALB-Tech, but range and battery capacity figures have not yet been released.

The Toyota bZ7 is Toyota's attempt to produce a car for China in China, one that can compete in that country's marketplace and sell to Chinese consumers. While Toyota has no plans to bring the bZ7 to our shores, this car should teach Toyota plenty about selling EVs in the world's largest, most competitive market.