Toyota is teasing its upcoming battery-electric midsize SUV prior to its unvieling at the 2021 Shanghai Motor Show. The all-new, battery-electric SUV is expected to have its full debut sometime during the annual event which will be public from April 21-28.
Just last week the Japanese automaker teased its upcoming X Prologue prior to its launch this Wednesday. It will be the first all-electric car Toyota has launched outside of China. However, Toyota only posted the release on its European media site, not its global or North American sites so whether or not it will be global model is unclear.
Very little is known about this new electric SUV from Toyota other than it will be based on Toyota’s new e-TNGA platform. According to the automaker the new EV will be “highly versatile and easily adaptable for a range of product types”: “The basic architecture principle of e-TNGA works on the basis that key elements remain fixed whilst others vary. This approach allows variance in vehicle width, length, wheelbase and height. e-TNGA can also be defined with front-, rear- or four-wheel drive and with a wide-range of battery and electric motor capacities to suit various vehicle types and usage profiles. The versatility and flexibility of e-TNGA technology allows Toyota to design and create vehicles that are not just battery-electric, but also exciting to drive and beautiful to look at.”
Toyota, like several other automakers, announced that it will accelerate its plans of electrification last year. However, the automakers main focus has remained on hybrids and fuel cell vehicles, so it will be interesting to see a new all-electric from the Japanese automaker. It will likely give us a look into how Toyota is approaching its transition to electric and how serious they are about it.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has already been noted saying some pretty controversial things about battery-electric vehicles during one of Toyota’s annual meetings. The CEO grabbed headlines after he ranted about the accelerated adoption of electric mobility last year, saying it wasn’t a good idea, all well spreading misinformation.
As mentioned above, several other automakers are on the move to become fully electric and have put an expiration date on the production of ICE vehicles. With this, the competition is becoming even more fierce in a market that some thought would never even exist.