Toyota BZ electric SUV teased, to be revealed April 19

It’s safe to say that Toyota has been rather behind the curve on the electric vehicle front, despite having plenty of experience with hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell technology. But the Japanese juggernaut is planning a huge onslaught of zero-emissions cars that are slated to arrive within the next few years, and it’s beginning by teasing the first new model that will be revealed on April 19.

Slated to make its world premiere at the upcoming Auto Shanghai motor show, the car will be marketed under the Beyond Zero banner, with Toyota having already registered trademarks for BZ1 through BZ5, plus an X suffix for each. The first model is expected to be a mid-size SUV, around the same size as the RAV4.

The sole teaser image shows a look that’s a departure from the Toyota norm, shorn of a massive lower grille. Instead, there’s a black bar up top joining a pair of sharp headlights with an array of projectors, while a slim centre intake and vertical corner inlets sit below. There also appear to be blacked-out panels below the headlights, although that could just be the lighting of that particular photo.

No details have been revealed just yet, but the new car will almost certainly be based on the new e-TNGA platform for electric vehicles. The architecture will underpin no less than ten battery electric models that will be introduced from here on out, which will also include a mid-sized crossover and sedan, a large SUV, an MPV and a compact car developed in partnership with Daihatsu and Suzuki.

By the way, the SUV you see here will spawn a Subaru version as well, as part of an expansion of a partnership that has already sired two generations of the Toyota (GR) 86 and Subaru BRZ. That one won’t arrive so soon, however, as it’s only set to go into production around the middle of the decade.

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