New Toyota EVs to use ‘familiar’ names from current and old cars

Toyota will use “familiar” names for incoming electric models, moving away from the alphanumeric naming pattern established by the bZ4X SUV. 

That RAV4-sized EV arrived in 2022 as Toyota’s first EV, with ‘bZ’ standing for ‘Beyond Zero’ (emissions), ‘4’ being the size of the car in Toyota lexicon and ‘X’ referring to it being a crossover.

However, product and marketing boss Andrea Carlucci told Autocar at the brand’s annual Kenshiki day that names for upcoming EVs will come from “current cars” that are “familiar” to customers. 

As with the recently revealed C-HR+ EV (which is technically unrelated to its hybrid namesake), the brand will look to leverage the equity of existing names to boost EV sales, especially in Europe.

To that end, the brand’s new entry EV in Europe, the Urban Cruiser, resurrects a name last used here for a similarly sized crossover in the late 2000s.

This decision moves the Japanese brand away from its planned bZ naming strategy, which was meant to badge its EVs, following similar decisions by Honda (e:Ny) and Mercedes-Benz (EQ).

Despite the move, there aren’t any plans to rename the bZ4X. Carlucci told Autocar that the name will “remain a bit isolated” in the Toyota range, asany change would “confuse” customers.

The only other bZ models on sale are the Chinese-market bZ3X SUV and bZ3C fastback.

“Familiar” names will be attached to a trio of incoming Toyota EVs, arriving by the end of 2026 and sold globally.

Preview silhouettes showcase those will be a pick-up truck, a fastback and an SUV – cars that European CEO Yoshihiro Nakata said will target “lifestyle” customers.’

‘Hilux’ is an obvious contender for the name of the pick-up, while the SUV could be the long-awaited production version of 2023’s Land Cruiser Se concept – a car that Toyota specifically pointed to as “an example of its breadth of ambition”. 

The Corolla name is another that could be used for an electric counterpart, suggested Carlucci, but said “that has not been decided yet”.

The desire to return to word names is the result of “a clear request from Europe that was very much heard and followed by Japan”, Carlucci previously told Autocar.

“We have a number of models,” he said. “If you start multiplying by technology, by segment, the nameplates tend to proliferate too much. We wanted to rationalise this.”

He added that Toyota wants to “avoid this inflation of nameplates for the simplicity of the consumer”.