Latest news with #ToyotabZ3X
Miami Herald
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
In Miami-Dade, a $15K Chinese electric car sparks questions about US politics
The idea of the budget electric Toyota bZ3X SUV priced at $15,000 had me hooked — complete with sunroof, no less, perfect for South Florida's sunny days. It's a real thing, sold in China. I read about it in The Wall Street Journal last week. Imagine a Chinese manufacturing supply chain so efficient that a Japanese carmaker can customize a tech-forward, ozone-preserving, wallet-friendly vehicle exclusively for the world's largest consumer market. As I write this, amid an unresolved tariff war, I'm eyeing our 3-year-old Subaru with the expiring lease parked in our Miami-Dade driveway. But there's the cost of such an inexpensive vehicle: The phenomenal capacity of the Chinese supply chain isn't driven by free-market innovation. It's the product of a tightly managed, state-directed economy. Only in the past decade — 75 years after the communist revolution — has China's challenge to American ingenuity become indisputable. And the price the Chinese people have paid for that efficiency — in personal freedom and opportunity— is steep: decades of government-led repression and misinformation. Which got me wondering: What kind of future are we in the U.S. in for, given the breakdowns in governance we're watching unfold here at home? I'd love to own an electric vehicle I can actually afford — but only if the 'exchange rate' doesn't include control over my speech, my decisions concerning my body or a public climate in which we avoid difficult conversations with friends because politics have become so toxic. Like many of my fellow baby boomers in Miami-Dade, I've lived my adult life steeped in the idealism of our formative years. And yet, watching the dysfunction of recent months has left me rethinking how some well-intended policies and structures are playing out. How did uplifting marginalized communities become a flash point instead of a shared goal? How did bureaucracies meant to serve the public become so bogged down? And how, in a country built by immigrants, have we failed to craft a practical, humane policy to address the reality of migration? I know I'm not the only one feeling frustrated — frustrated by a system in which partisan rigidity often replaces real solutions. But unless we collectively admit that parts of the system need repair — and stop focusing only on who broke it — our democracy will suffer under the weight of reactive, unilateral fixes. No matter your political leanings, that's not good for any of us. We must become better stewards of what's best about this country. That means protecting democratic traditions through thoughtful, bipartisan course correction. Most Americans want the same basic things: autonomy in personal decisions, economic stability and the ability to build a life marked by peace and possibility. Let's start thinking differently about where we're headed — not right or left, not red or blue. Not as a nation isolated from the world, or trying to dominate it, but as one that can balance global leadership with internal strength and individual liberty. Think about that the next time you see a nasty campaign ad — or better yet, when you head to the polls. Elissa Vanaver is the former CEO of the national Breakthrough Collaborative and a former Miami Herald managing editor and HR executive.
Mint
04-05-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
What a $15,000 electric SUV says about US-China car rivalry
SHANGHAI—The offer sounds like a scam—a new Toyota electric-powered sport-utility vehicle for about $15,000, complete with sunroof and cup holders. But the Toyota bZ3X is real, and it is actually on sale starting at that price. There is a catch: To buy one, you have to be in China. Auto executives once dreamed of a world car that could be designed once and sold everywhere. That world has fractured, and nowhere more so than in the two biggest markets , China and the U.S., which together account for nearly half of global vehicle sales . 'Decades ago, it was very easy to develop to produce one standard and to provide it globally," said Volkswagen's chief executive, Oliver Blume. 'Today, it's impossible because the expectations of the customers are different. The ecosystems are different, the regulations are different." 'There is no such thing as a world car anymore," said Jürgen Reers, global lead for the automotive business at Accenture. For an American used to a $50,000 gasoline-powered SUV as the standard family choice, the Chinese market is hardly recognizable. A majority of new vehicles sold in China are either fully electric or plug-in hybrids, and a look around the recent auto show in Shanghai showed that local makers have mostly stopped introducing new gasoline-powered models. In the U.S., by contrast, the traditional combustion engine still powers about eight in 10 new vehicles. Most Chinese buyers these days are buying a local brand . Some, such as BYD, have begun to gain international recognition, but the malls are filled with dealers that offer brands virtually unknown abroad—Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Aion, Aito and many more. The price difference is overwhelming. Chinese car buyers no longer need to debate whether an EV can be made affordable, not when a decent starter model costs $10,000 and a luxury seven-seater with reclining massage chairs can be had for $50,000. Because of customer demand, even the low-end models come with advanced driver-assistance software. Compared with four years ago, 'The prices of our competitors have fallen dramatically," said Tetsuya Miyahara, a Honda Motor executive in China. Tesla is better-positioned than other American automakers to compete in China, since its models have always been all-electric and it makes the vehicles in Shanghai with Chinese batteries. Yet it has fallen behind in another aspect that makes China special: speed of development . Tesla has two models widely available—Model 3 and Model Y—and both have been on the market for years. China's BYD has about 25 models, according to the market-analysis firm Inovev, and is constantly introducing more. Tesla's sales in China in the first quarter were slightly up at around 135,000, but its market share has plateaued at around 3%. For a global company such as Toyota to compete in China, it needs a development process different from the one that serves American consumers with gasoline-powered RAV4 SUVs and Tacoma trucks. Toyota said its bZ3X—the recently introduced model that starts at $15,000—was designed in China by the company's engineers in the country, who worked with a local joint-venture partner. It is made in Guangzhou with Chinese batteries and driver-assistance software from Momenta, a Chinese leader in that field. 'This couldn't happen without a Chinese supply chain," said Masahiko Maeda, head of Toyota's Asia business. 'Unless you localize, it's out of the question." A Toyota spokesman said the company received 15,000 orders on the first day the bZ3X went on sale in China in March, more than expected. Many buyers are choosing to spend a few thousand dollars extra to get more advanced driver-assistance functions, he said. Maeda said the U.S. has a 'costly supply chain," meaning Toyota's U.S. showrooms won't be selling a $15,000 electric SUV soon. The closest equivalent, a slightly longer model called the bZ4X, starts at around $40,000 in the U.S. People in the industry say that thanks to China's supply chain, it is still possible to make money on a $15,000 vehicle. BYD, the leader in that price range, said its first-quarter profit doubled to more than $1 billion. Like other foreign automakers, Toyota needed a jolt in its China business after local rivals surged in recent years. Still, it retains a market share near 10%. Toyota officials said the market remained important. China accounts for nearly one in five Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold worldwide, and Toyota is building a new, wholly owned Lexus factory in Shanghai that is scheduled to open in 2027. The American and Chinese car markets are likely to diverge further with the two countries' deepening trade conflict. President Joe Biden's administration hit Chinese EVs with a 100% tariff, all but ruling out imports into America. President Trump has made it clear he doesn't want more car imports. The Detroit three automakers—General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis's U.S. arm—are settling into niches in China. U.S. brands collectively had a 5.7% market share in China in the first quarter of this year, according to the China Passenger Car Association, down from 8.5% three years ago. Almost all of the U.S.-branded vehicles sold in China are Chinese-made, taking advantage of the country's supply chain. Imports from the U.S. are minuscule as a proportion of the total market.
Wall Street Journal
04-05-2025
- Automotive
- Wall Street Journal
What a $15,000 Electric SUV Says About U.S.-China Car Rivalry
SHANGHAI—The offer sounds like a scam—a new Toyota electric-powered sport-utility vehicle for about $15,000, complete with sunroof and cup holders. But the Toyota bZ3X is real, and it is actually on sale starting at that price. There is a catch: To buy one, you have to be in China.
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
The cheapest Toyota EV just went on sale for under $20,000, but good luck getting it
The cheapest Toyota EV just went on sale for under $20,000, but good luck getting it Show Caption Hide Caption China's internal EV war heats up as officials at BYD, Huawei trade criticisms A battle over electric vehicles is unfolding in China, with officials at rival brands BYD and Huawei exchanging some verbal barbs. Straight Arrow News When you're able to offer an EV with 267 miles of driving range, an impressive driver-assist suite, and decent styling for under $20,000, you better believe it's going to be popular. That's exactly what the 2026 Toyota bZ3X did in China, and the launch was so well received that it crashed Toyota-GACs order servers for some time. Let's look at what we're missing. The bZ3X — known as the Bozhi 3X, or Platinum 3X when translated — is a small all-electric crossover SUV made for the Chinese market through the Toyota-GAC (Guangzhou Automobile Group Company) joint venture. It had a soft pre-launch in December where it was offered for around $14,000, but in March Toyota officially opened its order books for its cheapest EV in China. It was so cheap that it secured over 10,000 orders in just one hour and overwhelmed their servers. To put that into perspective, according to Electrek, the BYD Atto 3 is similarly sized but is nearly $1,000 more expensive to start. Affordable electric vehicles: Toyota teases smaller, cheaper compact EV SUV There are two models with two battery pack sizes and five trim options available for the bZ3X. The base model without any full self-driving technology and other complicated ADAS features from Nvidia called the Nvidia Drive AGX Orin X, starts at 109,800 yuan or around $15,000. If you opt in for the Nvidia technology, add another 40,000 yuan for around $20,500. The standard battery pack is the 430 Air, a 50.03 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pack good for up to 267 miles of range. The larger '610 Max' offers a battery with up to 370 miles of range with its 67.92 kWh LFP pack. Inside is a bit of a home-away-from-home design that's very popular in China. All seats fold flat to offer up to 10 feet of nearly flat surface to lounge in. The 14.6-inch infotainment screen offers massive views for this price point, but the instrument panel consists of an 8.8-inch digital display. It's also a very simple dashboard layout with no other buttons save for the start and hazard light switches, but the HVAC vents are discrete. Electric muscle cars hit the market: Is the EV Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack a real muscle car? As it's a joint venture build with GAC for China, it's unlikely that it will ever be brought over due to the Biden-era rules still in place effectively banning Chinese-built vehicles in the U.S. Even if they were to overcome those rules, the current — and in constant flux — tariff situation would make the bZ3X far more expensive to sell here after taking importation into account. It would not cost $15,000, in other words, a shame considering one of the barriers to entry to EVs is their often richer pricing versus equivalent gas-powered offerings. That said, in 2025, pricing in general represents a huge hurtle to new vehicle ownership, regardless of what power source you go with. Currently, the cheapest vehicle on sale here in the U.S. is the Nissan Versa S at $18,330, but who knows how long the Versa will continue to be produced with everything going on at Nissan, along with the industry's drift away from small, affordable vehicles (the subcompact segment that the Versa competes in, after all, is down to only two models — soon to be one). Above those, no new vehicle starts at under $20,000, with the next cheapest being the 2025 Chevrolet Trax at $21,495. If Toyota could find a way to bring over the bZ3X or something like it, it could be a huge win, but pulling off such a cheap price outside of the Chinese market would be nearly impossible. Photos by manufacturer
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Toyota bZ3X Might Break the EV Market if it Comes Stateside
EV buyers are demanding lower-cost vehicles, and automakers are beginning to respond. While it's not expected to launch in the U.S., the Toyota bZ3X is an ideal example of an affordable and feature-rich EV. Starting at just over $15,000 (109,800 yuan), the Toyota bZ3X received over 10,000 pre-order requests in China less than one hour after its launch. This indicates consumers prefer low-cost EVs that aren't also low-end vehicles, and automakers can deliver this. Officially named the 'Bozhi 3X' (or 'Platinum 3X' in English), the Toyota bZ3X is related to the U.S. Toyota bZ4X and the bZ3 sedan introduced in 2023 in China. Tailored for the Chinese market, the bZ3X is a family SUV available in seven trims, offering 147 pound-feet of torque and 200 horsepower. Toyota claims it can charge from 30 percent to 80 percent in 24 minutes and provides a range of 267 to 370 miles at 50 or 58 kilowatt-hours depending on the trim level. Visually, it resembles a larger, boxier bZ4X, indicating that Toyota has established a clear design language for its EVs. The flat hood slopes dramatically towards the front, while lower side panels appear to lift away from the ground, creating the impression of increased ground clearance. The cabin marks a shift for Toyota; traditionally, the automaker has favored familiar interiors for its EVs, but the bZ3X features a minimalist design with an 8.8-inch screen behind the wheel and a center-mounted 14-inch display. The center console boasts a wireless charger and several cupholders, complemented by a center storage compartment. The bZ3X accommodates five passengers and provides ample interior space with a length of 181 inches, and a 108-inch wheelbase. All seats can fold flat, yielding roughly ten feet of usable space (lengthwise) for various needs. The two highest trim levels of the Toyota bZ3X include Lidar technology, impressive driver assistance features, and a state-of-the-art NVIDIA Drive Orin X chipset capable of over 254 trillion operations per second. The center-mounted display is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 SoC that incorporates one Lidar sensor, three long-range radars, 11 short-range ultrasonic radars, and 11 cameras to support the driver. The first five trim levels don't include Lidar, but the top two do, starting at about $20,000. For a vehicle equipped with as much technology as the Toyota bZ3X, that represents an outstanding value. Consumers recognize this value, too. Toyota's servers crashed roughly an hour after pre-orders for the bZ3X commenced thanks to the over 10,000 orders it received. The Toyota bZ3X is comparable in size to a Mustang Mach-E, includes Lidar, boasts a remarkable chipset, offers impressive driver-assist features, and provides a respectable range—all for approximately $20,000. If Toyota were to introduce the bZ3X in the U.S., it would undoubtedly become the best-selling EV. It's disappointing that it won't be available here, much like some of the other cool cars we've seen revealed worldwide.
