China Will Get Toyota's Flagship EV Sedan, but Will the US?
Toyota reveals bZ7 electric sedan at Auto Shanghai, previewing a production model that will go on sale in China within a year.
The bZ7 is built in a joint venture with Chinese automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd., better known as GAC, and is aimed solely at the Chinese domestic market for now.
Toyota has shown concepts and renderings of electric sedans over the past five years, but so far this has not translated into an impending model for the US market.
The US is understood to be some time away from seeing an electric Toyota sedan, especially one aimed directly at the Tesla Model 3 or a segment just above it. But such a model now appears to be relatively close to a sales debut in China. And it's not even the first electric sedan Toyota has revealed in the country in the past three years.
Toyota used the Shanghai auto show to take the wraps off the bZ7 sedan, developed with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd., better known as GAC.
The Japanese automaker says the model, which is over 196 inches in length, will go on sale in China within a year, but did not share any powertrain or range details.
The sedan's design, developed along with Toyota's local partners, isn't much of a surprise, rather translating the styling cues of the existing bZ models to a Crown-sized sedan, or something close to it in size.
One curious detail is that Toyota is calling the bZ7 the "flagship model" of its lineup in China, which signals that a full-size executive model isn't in the cards, at least for that particular region.
Among other things, it's easy to get the impression that the US isn't exactly the first, second, or even third most important EV market for Toyota at the moment, which has already rolled out the bZ4X, bZ3, bZ3X, and the bZ5 in other regions, while the US has only received the bZ4X.
"China is a highly advanced market that leads the way in electrification, with BEVs accounting for a high proportion of new car sales," the automaker explained.
Just how close is the US to receiving an electric sedan from Toyota?
Plans for an electric sedan offering in the US are not imminent to a degree where we can even point to a recent concept or an expected launch year, even though Toyota has certainly shown a handful of concepts in the past five years.
In 2021 the automaker revealed a vast variety of electric concepts, and you can even spot the bZ7 in those photos from four years ago quite easily.
But by 2025 perhaps it's safe to conclude that some of these planned models have been pushed to the back burner.
We suspect that, among other things, an electric sedan would most likely have to be built in the US if the automaker were to offer it here, given the rapidly evolving tariff landscape, and that the annual sales volume of midsize electric sedans in general would also have to be north of where it is today to interest Toyota.
Like other automakers, Toyota hasn't rushed to challenge the two Tesla sedans directly or indirectly in North America. And to be fair, sedans close in size to the Model 3 produced by Polestar, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW aren't exactly inundating their dealers with orders.
There is no shortage of larger electric sedans on offer in the US at the moment, but there is a shortage of electric sedans the size of a Corolla. So if Toyota were to enter a particular segment, there are certainly greener pastures in segments well below the Crown, and the bZ3 already occupies one of them.
Perhaps the most realistic estimate of Toyota's current EV plans for the US is that the bZ7 or a similarly sized electric model is not expected to go on sale in the US in 2026 or 2027.
If there is any consolation, the three-row bZ5X SUV is still expected to go on sale in the US in 2026 and will be produced here as well.
Should Toyota offer a Crown-sized electric sedan in the US before 2030, or is the current demand for such a model readily met by rivals? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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