We’ve known about Toyota’s all-new e-TNGA electric platform developed in conjunction with Subaru. Let’s be honest, most of these EV platforms are mostly similar. So with the specs floating about that part of the equation is mostly known. Now we’re getting a better idea of what it will look like. And with all of the trademark filings with “BZ” for Beyond Zero, here is the 2022 Toyota BZ EV.

The Toyota BZ will be like a RAV4 but the wheelbase stretched

It will be about the size of a RAV4 but the wheelbase is stretched and wheel centerlines pushed out further with shorter overhangs. As both Toyota and Subaru will share this platform we are surprised that they also look to be sharing body components. We thought the point of these common platforms was to allow for better-differentiated styling.

Let’s hope there will be more visual differences, not that we dislike either the Subaru EV concept or the BZ. We like them both. We hate to see manufacturers’ edge toward badge engineering the way GM did in the 1970s and 1980s. It never works. 

We expect that Toyota will try for all-new body language as it did successfully with the Prius and failed miserably with the first Mirai. Although the first Prius hybrids were a bit funky-looking. Back in 2019, we were given the first glimpse of a family of vehicles with the most prominent being the BZ. 

Toyota was late to the dance as it went from hybrids to hydrogen

Toyota has been late to the dance as it went from pioneering hybrids to hydrogen propulsion. EVs got little attention. While hydrogen-power seems like it could have been the next step infrastructure is nil. Without the convenience that the gang of charging stations affords hydrogen-powered vehicles will only be a small zero-emissions niche.

Now the UK’s Autoexpress has found more detailed and production-realistic renderings as we get closer to 2022. It also says that Toyota officially said that the EV has already been developed and is already at the production tooling stage. So BZ development is locked in so to speak. Manufacturing will take place in Japan.

The e-TNGA platform will be flexible as to motors, wheelbases, and other parameters

The e-TNGA platform will be flexible as to motors, wheelbases, and other parameters. So front, rear, or four-wheel drive will be possible. Battery range and size along with one, two, or three-motor applications. 

As for pricing, Autoexpress says Toyota confirms it will be just above the RAV4. And as you know the RAV4 now is available with either hybrid or plug-in hybrid power. So, there will be a range of crossovers with stepped emissions and pricing combined. 

Toyota has also released a vague sketchy teaser image to hint at what the BZ is going to look like. These never accomplish much other than an opportunity to hype what is being worked on but can’t be shown. Still, you can get a pretty good idea of what we’re presenting here of what the BZ will look like.