SHANGHAI: Toyota began selling a US$20,000 (RM88,630) smart electric car in China this week, aiming to attract buyers with its advanced features similar to Chinese rivals, as the automaker ups efforts to regain share in the world's largest auto market.
Toyota has had limited success so far with its previous electric vehicle (EV) models in a hugely competitive market dominated by local players such as Chinese EV giant BYD.
Reuters reported that Toyota began taking orders for its latest - and much cheaper - model, the Bozhi 3X (or bZ3X in short), on Thursday.
Toyota and its Chinese partner, state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), had first unveiled the car at an autoshow in Beijing last year.
The bZ3X is based on GAC’s Aion V electric SUV and competes with the BYD Atto 3. To keep costs down, the Toyota SUV uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack.
Three versions are offered with three different LFP battery packs of 50kWh, 58kWh and 68kWh corresponding to a CLTC range of 430km, 520km and 610km respectively. Knock off 20% for a rough guide on the WLTP ranges (344km, 416km and 488km).
A single electric motor drives the front wheels and comes in either 150kW or 165KW.
More than 10,000 orders were received within an hour of the launch, Peng Baolin, a vice president of sales at GAC Toyota, said on his Weibo social media account on Thursday.
The price for variants with navigation capabilities similar to Tesla's full self-driving version starts at 139,800 yuan (RM86,000).
The less advanced version is priced at 104,800 yuan (RM64,000), making it Toyota's cheapest EV in China.
GAC Toyota declined to comment on questions regarding export plans and how profitable the model would be, given the low pricing.
The smart version is equipped with an Orin X chip, a lidar and Momenta's smart driving software, which is comparable to peers.
A long-running price war in China's EV market entered a new phase last month after BYD said it would offer advanced driving-assisted features on several models, including those priced below US$10,000 (RM45,000), for no extra charge.
