Toyota and Subaru’s sibling EVs are now both getting rugged variants.
One of the debuts at this year’s New York Auto Show, alongside the redesigned Outback, was an electric alternative with the Solterra-based Trailseeker. Fast forward a month, and now we’re seeing not only Toyota’s own updated bZ (formerly the bZ4X), but also its lifestyle-focused version: the bZ Woodland.
Much like we’ve seen over on the internal combustion side of the market over the past few years, pretty much every automaker is taking a crack at making a more “adventure-ready” take on their everyday SUVs. In fact, we’ve seen the RAV4 Woodland as well as the now-defunct Adventure and TRD Off-Road. The 2026 Toyota bZ Woodland adopts a similar strategy: Take the base car, give it some dark fender cladding and some roof rails and cross-bars to mount your gear, bring the ground clearance up a bit to 8.3 inches and offer some all-terrain tires. On the styling front, Toyota brings a bit of its own flair to the table. That’s especially true at the front, where it takes on a similar sort of look to the revamped Camry and the Crown Signia.
Overall, the bZ Woodland is about six inches longer than the standard bZ with the tweaks, and you have the option of meatier rubber if you want to sacrifice some range for better off-road traction. It’s no Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, of course, but you’re still better off than you would be in Toyota’s regular EV.
As you’d expect, the bZ Woodland is a dual-motor model with standard all-wheel drive — and it’s decently punchy too. Toyota made an effort to give the whole bZ range more grunt this time around, and the Woodland manages up to 375 horsepower from those electric motors, which matches the Subaru Trailseeker. Toyota claims the bZ Woodland can manage up to 260 miles on a full charge, support DC fast-charging times from 10-to-80% around 30 minutes and pack a 3,500-pound towing capacity as well. Like the normal models, this Woodland also gets a beefier 11-kW onboard AC charger and a built-in (Tesla-style) NACS charging port.
Looking inside the 2026 Toyota bZ Woodland
Once you get inside, this ruggedized bZ has only changed as much as the rest of the lineup. You get a larger 14.0-inch infotainment screen, while the digital gauge cluster has been mounted higher up the dashboard, and you get dual wireless charging pads. Heated front seats with a power-adjustable driver’s seat come as standard (in either black or brown), and while you do get some contrast stitching, there don’t appear to be any special touches to the Woodland to make its interior unique to any other bZ. If you’re gunning for some more features, the Premium package adds in a 9-speaker JBL stereo system, ventilated front seats and a panoramic sunroof.
Toyota says the 2026 bZ Woodland will reach dealers early next year. We don’t know how much it will cost yet, though, as we’ll only see that information closer to the actual launch. Right now, we expect the 2026 Toyota bZ range to run into the mid-$40,000s, it’s likely the Woodland will land around that mark, if not a bit higher.
