Toyota’s first electric car goes on sale in South Africa – Pricing and features

Toyota has finally launched its first fully-electric car in South Africa.

The bZ4X is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) that has been in the pipeline for our market for several years, finally making its debut this past weekend at Toyota South Africa Motors’ inaugural Matsuri Festival at Kyalami in Gauteng.

This is not the first electric car from the Toyota Group, admittedly, since Lexus launched the RZ in March; however, the bZ4X is the first electric model in South Africa to wear a Toyota badge.

The two cars are actually built on the same platform, though the Lexus is obviously designed to be the more upmarket option.

The new Toyota bZ4X is now available in a single specification with a starting price of R1,182,800.

This includes a 3-year/100,000km warranty, a 6-year/90,000km service plan, and an 8-year/160,000km battery warranty.

Powertrain

The bZ4X is equipped with two electric motors, one for each axle, making it all-wheel-drive.

This twin-motor setup gives the SUV a combined output of 255kW and 438Nm, letting it sprint from 0-100km/h in just 5.1 seconds.

For reference, this makes it faster than hot hatchbacks like the VW Golf GTI.

It also has a top speed of 160km/h.

The e-motors are powered by a 73.1kWh battery, which provides a range of over 450km.

With a 150kW DC charger, you can top up the cells from 0 to 80% in roughly 29 minutes, though this increases to around 3.5 hours when using a 7.4kW AC home charger.

Features

Toyota’s new EV comes with a generous amount of kit, starting with adaptive LED headlights, LED daytime running lights, rain-sensing wipers, roof rails, and a rear spoiler.

It also has a powered tailgate, electric side mirrors with blind spot indicators, keyless entry, and 20-inch alloy wheels.

Moving inside, the Toyota boasts leather upholstery and a heated leather multifunction steering wheel.

The steering wheel has paddle shifters, though since its an EV, the paddles adjust the regenerative brakes instead of changing gears.

Other features include keyless start, dual-zone climate control, electric front seats, a 7-inch TFT instrument cluster, a nine-speaker JBL stereo, and a 14-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Additionally, the bZ4X has an advanced driver assistance suite with adaptive cruise control, a panoramic camera system, lane-keep assist, blind spot monitoring, crawl control, hill start assist, hill descent control, tyre pressure monitoring, and front and rear parking sensors with sonar.

Toyota bZ4X