Toyota introduced the bZ Sport Crossover Concept and the bZ FlexSpace Concept at the 2023 Shanghai auto show this week.
SHANGHAI – With the Chinese car market rapidly shifting toward electrified vehicles, Japan's top automakers are bleeding market share despite their advanced hybrid technology and fuel efficient powertrains.
To shore up their presence in the market, they are ramping up development of EVs specifically for China, either on their own or with local partners.
At the Shanghai auto show, which began Tuesday, Toyota Motor Corp.'s Toyota division unveiled two concept crossover models under its bZ series of EVs – the bZ Sport Crossover Concept and the bZ FlexSpace Concept.
Toyota said production models will hit the market next year. The bZ Sport Crossover Concept was developed with assistance from its technology partnership and China’s largest electrified-vehicle maker, BYD Co., Toyota said this week.
The bZ Sport is the second EV model the Japanese auto giant has developed with BYD, following the bZ3 sedan, which went on sale on April 16 with a starting price of 169,800 yuan ($24,666).
The bZ3 is assembled at Toyota’s joint venture with China FAW Group Corp., with batteries and electric motor supplied by BYD.
It is also the second bZ series EV Toyota has rolled out in China, following the bZ4X crossover which went on sale in October.
Toyota plans to launch ten locally produced EV models in the market by 2026.
Mazda Motor Corp. sells a full range of products in China, but it only markets one EV – the battery version of the CX-30 crossover.
To accelerate EV development, Mazda is taking a page from Toyota’s playbook. On April 16, its China unit announced it will tap Changan Automobile Co., Mazda’s local joint-venture partner, to develop electrification and connectivity technologies for two electrified models.
Of the two new products, one will be launched at the end of next year and the other is due out in late 2025. They will be available in both full electric and plug-in hybrid variants, Mazda China said, without providing additional details about the two models.
Honda's e:NP2 Prototype.
Like Toyota and Mazda, Honda plans to expand its lineup of EV products targeting Chinese customers in rapid succession over the next two years.
At the Shanghai auto show, the Honda brand revealed prototypes of two new models in its e:N series of EVs -- the e:NP2 Prototype and the e:NS2 Prototype.
Production models of the e:NP2 and e:NS2, both crossovers, are set to go on sale in early 2024.
Honda also introduced a concept crossover, the e:NXu (Xu means prologue in Chinese). Sales of production models based on the concept will begin before the end of 2024.
The major Japanese brand expects to introduce ten EV models in China by 2027. Its first two e:N products, the e:NP1 and the e:NS1, which are also crossovers, hit the market in the second quarter of 2022.
Honda's e:NS2 Prototype.
The Nissan brand has only one EV model, the Ariya crossover, in its broad lineup of China-built products.
It unwrapped the Arizon concept electric crossover at the Shanghai auto show.
It remains unknown when a production version of the Arizon will go on sale in China. But it probably won’t take long as pressure builds for Nissan to expand its EV lineup.
“Market and customer needs are rapidly changing, making China a global driver of electrification as well as a leader in connected car service," Nissan COO Ashwani Gupta said while speaking at the auto show on Tuesday. "There is a need for increased electrification and advanced sustainability in the market, and we are working hard to meet it.”
The Nissan Arizon concept electric crossover.
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