Source: GAC Toyota

According to joint venture GAC Toyota’s website, the new pure electric SUV bZ3X will start taking pre-orders on December 8.

This new vehicle launch coincides with the 20th anniversary of the joint venture between GAC and Toyota.

The bZ3X is scheduled to debut in March of next year at a price within the range of 100,000 to 150,000 CNY.

Toyota China sales have regained momentum since July 2024, growing MoM for the past three months to October 2024.

October retail sales of 154.8K also represents a 2.5% YoY growth, the only month in 2024 that has achieved YoY growth.

On a cumulative basis as of October 2024, Toyota China sales of 1.25M units trail last year’s 1.4M, a 11.0% decline.

This remains fairly positive compared to Honda China, which trails 2023 sales by 29.2% in 2024, with October 2024 retail sales diving by 38% YoY.

Toyota hopes to finally offer a competitive BEV model in the Chinese market with the GAC Toyota bZ3X.

The new car’s autonomous driving system will be powered by Momenta 5.0, an end-to-end ADAS system that supports all-scenario “map-less” driving.

Toyota predominantly sells two pure electric vehicles in China at the moment, the FAW Toyota bZ3 priced at 169,800 - 199,800 CNY and the GAC Toyota bZ4X priced at 179,800 - 238,800 CNY.

The GAC Toyota bZ4X SUV has been on the market since late 2022 and has consistently sold less than 1,000 units monthly in China, 4,623 units as of October 2024 year-to-date.

Meanwhile, the FAW bZ3 sedan has been more far more popular, having sold 41,934 units YTD.

The Momenta 5.0 system will be equipped with an NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin X with a computing power of 254 TOPS, 27 sensors, 11 HD cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars, 3 millimeter-wave radars, and a LiDAR unit on the rooftop.

The vehicle will also feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, 1.14 square meter panoramic sunroof, electric sunshade, 32-color ambient interior light, 11-speakers audio system, and a 4-zone voice interaction recognition.

The SUV will measure 4,600 mm in length, 1,875 mm in width, and 1,645 mm in height with a 2,765 mm wheelbase.

Toyota hopes that the bZ3X will be a disruptive model that will change Chinese consumers’ perception of joint-venture NEVs, which have predominantly been less “smart” and innovative, yet more expensive.