Despite the pressing urgency posed by climate change, Toyota has been slow to embrace electric vehicles. In the process, environment groups have labeled it a “laggard.” But even Toyota must know it can't keep that up forever, and so things are reportedly changing—including turning the popular Highlander crossover into an all-electric model. That comes to us from veteran automotive journalist Paul Eisenstein, writing for CarBuzz.
But after fierce lobbying, Toyota got what it wanted: loosened emissions rules that allow a more gradual adoption of EVs. But in 2021, Toyota announced 30 new BEVs to be launched worldwide by 2020. Most concepts showcased back then carried the “bz” nameplate, an abbreviation for “beyond zero.” The following number denotes vehicle class and x denotes all-wheel drive. That’s how you get the rather confusing bZ4x nameplate.