To put it bluntly, the Toyota bZ4X is not good. We know it. Dealers seem to know it, given the wild lease deals that you can get on one and, surprisingly, Toyota seems to know it as recent comments from one of the company’s executives show.
Speaking to media at CES, Toyota Motor North America President and CEO Tetsuo Ogawa was asked if the automaker had learned anything since the bZ4X had gone on sale. The answer he gave essentially said the automaker is aware of how the bZ4X has been received and it’s listening. From InsideEVs:
“For the comment regarding the bZ4X and [Lexus] RZ, yes, we have received some criticism, and we are aware and recognize the feedback,” Ogawa said through an interpreter. But then he got specific, too. “For example, it’s too expensive, or the driving range is too short,” he said. “Those kinds of voices, we have recognized. So we’ll continue to make improvements based on the voices that we hear.”
The bZ4X (and its related Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ) debuted for the 2022 model year. So far its been the only EV hybrid heavy Toyota has brought to market. And it hasn’t been without its problems. Just a few months into its debut year, Toyota had to issue a stop sale because the wheels of the bZ4X could fall off. This ultimately caused bZ4X sales to be lower than the GR86 its first year on sale.
It’s rare for Toyota to get more than one thing wrong on a vehicle, but bZ4X has more than a couple faults that may have turned off buyers. Its starting price of over $40,000 wasn’t exactly cheap. Its range isn’t great either. While Toyota says you can get between 222 and 252 miles on a charge, independent testing shows the range can drop to as low as 160 miles. Charging isn’t great either; nine hours on a Level 2 charger will get you a full battery. A DC Fast charger takes just under an hour. Even the bZ4X’s name is terrible, another fact Toyota is apparently aware of as it is reportedly planing to retire the alphabet soup model name.
And as Ogawa pointed out, Toyota is aware that the bZ4X isn’t great, which is probably why it received a $6,000 price cut for 2025. Slashing the price on a car that isn’t great only helps to move metal. Toyota just needs to build a better EV. And hopefully the company is actually listening.
