Toyota doesn’t follow a set naming convention across its global model lineup, with models ranging from the alphanumeric RAV4 to the evocative LandCruiser.
The former led to the relatively uninspiring name for its first electric vehicle (EV), the bZ4X, which stands for beyond Zero (emissions) RAV4-sized crossover.
While the bZ name has subsequently been used on region-specific models – such as the China-only bZ3 electric sedan and bZ3X and bZ3C crossovers – Toyota is reportedly keen to give its EVs actual names which better align with existing models.
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Toyota bZ4X
Speaking to UK magazine Autocar, Toyota Europe’s director of marketing and product development, Andrea Carlucci, said the bZ4X name is expected to “remain a bit isolated”.
The publication reports Toyota could instead use names from its extensive back catalogue.
For example, the recently revealed Urban Cruiser, a Suzuki-based electric crossover, wears a nameplate previously used on three different vehicles.
Other future EVs will also be more uniquely named than the bZ4X, following “a clear request from Europe that was very much heard and followed by Japan”, the executive said.
“We have a number of models. If you start multiplying by technology, by segment, the nameplates tend to proliferate too much. We wanted to rationalise this.
“[Toyota wants to] avoid this inflation of nameplates for the simplicity of the consumer.”
In late 2021 Toyota revealed 16 EV concepts ranging from city cars to a large SUV and a ute. It plans to launch 30 EVs by 2030, by which point it wants to be selling at least 3.5 million EVs globally each year.
Toyota CEO Koji Sato in 2022 said the carmaker was planning to launch 10 new EVs between 2024 and 2026.
One of the concepts previewed was a three-row electric SUV called the LandCruiser Se, expected to be more road-focussed than the off-road-oriented lineup of Cruiser-badged models.
