- Alongside the new Prius, Toyota revealed the bZ Compact Concept SUV as another look at its EV plans.
- The car doesn’t just bring concept styling on the outside, but it brings an appropriately futuristic looking interior as well.
- No technical specs arrived with this concept’s debut, but Toyota emphasized expressive styling and “exhilarating performance” from its small electric SUV.
- While this “extends the vision” of Toyota’s bZ lineup, there’s no confirmation whether this car will go to full-scale production, or when that may happen.
Toyota has certainly taken a funkier tack with their new styling language, and that’s especially true with the “bZ” series. Now, the bZ Compact SUV Concept has officially landed in LA to give us another look at where the brand may be headed in its all-electric future.
“We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of the Beyond Zero moniker”, says Toyota vice president and general manager David Christ. “With an aerodynamic design coupled with intuitive tech features never before seen in a Toyota model, the bZ Concept showcases another vision of the very near future with our battery electric vehicles.”
Just how near are we talking? That’s unclear at this point, as the automaker keenly emphasized this car’s concept status. Apart from the angular exterior styling, including charging ports on each side of the vehicle — seriously, why don’t more EVs have that? — the Toyota bZ concept gets more tomorrow’s world on the inside.
Steering yoke? Curved screens?
The Toyota bZ Compact SUV Concept brings those to the table, along with a so-called “in-car personal agent” named “Yui” that responds to requests from the driver and passengers. The company also emphasized plat-based and recycled materials throughout the interior, as well as the bZ’s “leading technology” onboard.
How much of this will actually make it to production? It’s tough to say, though it’s difficult to imagine customers taking well to the yoke with the trackpad controls on each end. Those screens may also look interesting, but it’s likely we’ll see normal vertical displays on a production model.
With its “near future” plans, we should see more information on Toyota’s next production EVs in the coming months. In its announcement Wednesday, the automaker reaffirmed its plan to deliver 30 dedicated EVs worldwide over the next few years, with five wearing the bZ name.
