New Toyota bZ7 is a £17,000 electric saloon, but it’s not coming here
Toyota is looking to expand its bZ-branded EV range
The saloon car market isn’t what it once was, with family SUVs now very much in fashion, but Toyota is hoping that it can revive the segment with electric power, as it launches the new bZ7.
We first got a glimpse of the car way back in 2021, when Toyota revealed 11 electrified concept cars in one go, including the mid-size ‘bZ concept’ saloon. While some of those cars, such as the Lexus RZ and Toyota bZ4X, have since made it to production and gone on sale in the UK, the bZ7 looks set to stay as a China-only product, having been co-developed with Toyota’s Chinese partner, GAC.
The bZ7 takes on a few more modern Toyota design traits than the bZ concept. We can see the front end uses a similar headlight design to the new Prius and C-HR, and given that it’s an all-electric car, there’s just a small opening low down in the bumper rather than a full grille.
At just over five metres long, the bZ7 is a similar size to the Mercedes EQE, BMW i5 and Audi A6 e-tron. To help keep it looking sleek, there’s a two-tone paint finish, plus a strong shoulder-line crease in the bodywork. The back of the car isn’t too dissimilar to the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai with a thin, full-width lightbar and an upright rear end.
The bZ7 is also a similar size to the new Lexus ES - recently offered in all-electric guise for the first time. However, Toyota’s electric saloon isn’t expected to share the same underpinnings as the ES, with the Lexus sitting on the multi-fuel TNGA GA-K platform. Technical details for the bZ7 haven’t been revealed, but we can expect somewhere in the region of 350-400 miles of range and the possibility of single or dual-motor set-ups.
We can see what the bZ7 will offer inside, though. Different choices of trim are to be expected, but the show car features plenty of wood and leather dotted around the cabin.
Toyota says the bZ7 will be “equipped with the latest intelligent technology, befitting the flagship model of the Chinese BEV line-up”, translating to a huge central touchscreen, a smaller screen for the driver and, if the roof-mounted radar system is anything to go by, significant driver-assistance software.
Pricing for the bZ7 in China will start from around 170,000 Yuan (roughly £17,000) and sales are set to start within a year.
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