- The Toyota BZ3X is price between $ 15,000 and $ 21,000 in China.
- It is the cheapest FI of the automotive manufacturer in the country and obtains autonomous features on much more expensive vehicles.
- Toyota’s web servers would have crushed after opening orders due to a flood of visitors.
Toyota launched a fully electric family SUV in China. Its features suggest that the Japanese car manufacturer could finally become serious about electric vehicles, at least on the other side of the planet.
The BZ3X, or Bozhi 3x, as it is called locally, is the cheapest EV of Toyota in China. It starts at 109,800 yuan or $ 15,150 from current exchange rates. THE version The equipped with LIDAR and autonomous characteristics increases the price but not much, from 149,800 yuan ($ 20,707).
Toyota operates in China under a joint venture with the local partner Gac Group. It aims to grasp a larger boomed Chinese market piece, but sparkled with energy vehicles (NEV), where more than a hundred brands are in competition to stay relevant in the long term. Brands that fail to follow the risk of fast -down EV technologies may be annihilated. Toyota does not want to be in this position.
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The BZ3X is not revolutionary on the range and the load fronts, but it compensates for this in the functionality. Toyota launched seven versions of the BZ3X, five without Lidar and two with it included. They are all equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP), varying depending on the version, between 50 and 58 kilowatt hours.
With the larger battery, the too optimistic CLTC cycle beach is 520 kilometers (323 miles). The outing is not great either, with 200 horsepower and 147 pounds of torque. It seems to use an architecture of 400 volts, taking 24 minutes to load 30 to 80%.
The cabin recalls more a Californian start-up than something Toyota, with a minimalist look. There is a 14.7 -inch screen at the center powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. He obtains his “intelligent driving system” for Chinese autonomous driving moments, which includes equipment such as the Nvidia Drive Orin X chip offering up to 254 billions of operations per second (high) of the computing power.
The sensor suite is impressive for an EV that costs only $ 20,000. He obtained a Lidar, three long -range radars, 11 short -range ultrasonic radars and 11 cameras.
The Chinese traffic landscape is much more complex than the United States, with many more two-wheelers, narrow roads and delicate intersections, so this sequence of sensors makes sense while businesses rush to develop more sophisticated driving aids.
Local reports Also suggest that the model can be an instant success given its low price, Toyota obtaining 10,000 orders in the first 60 minutes, then the web server crashes due to a flood of visitors.
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