Toyota’s new smart EV for China looks pretty sharp: Check out the bZ5
Toyota’s new bZ5 EV starts at about $18,000 in China and uses BYD batteries for a driving range of up to 630 km (391 miles). Can it keep up in the world’s largest EV market?
Meet Toyota’s new bZ5 EV for China
Remember the bZ3C, Toyota’s coupe-like SUV concept from the Beijing Auto Show last year? It’s back and launching under a new name.
The first bZ5 rolled off the assembly line at FAW Toyota’s new energy factory in China on May 16, marking several milestones.
Bi Wenquan, the company’s executive vice president, said the new EV “demonstrates FAW Toyota’s strong hard power as a joint venture automaker to keep up with the pace of the Chinese market.” It’s also expected to help FAW Toyota compete in China’s increasingly competitive EV market.
The bZ5 marks the joint venture’s 12 millionth car that has rolled off its production line, but the new EV may be one of its most important so far.
Developed locally, FAW Toyota’s general manager, Fujiwara Hiroyuki, explained at the event that “being global and more Chinese” is a core part of Toyota’s plans to regain market share in the region.
Toyota opened pre-sales last month, starting at just 130,000 yuan, or about $18,000. Two BYD Blade LFP battery options are available: 65.28 kWh or 73.98 kWh, providing a CLTC driving range of 550 km (342 miles) and 630 km (391 miles), respectively.
The “smart cockpit” interior looks like an upgrade from the Toyota vehicles we are accustomed to in sporty red. A 15.6″ touchscreen infotainment sits at the center of a relatively minimalistic setup.
However, it’s loaded with smart tech, including Momenta 5.0. The intelligent driving system provides over 30 functions, including city and highway navigation assist, parking assistance, and more.
Based on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform, the bZ5 is 4,780 mm long, 1,866 mm wide, and 1,510 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,880 mm. That’s about the size of the new Tesla Model Y, which is 4,797 mm long, 1,920 mm wide, and 1,624 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,890 mm.
During the event, Toyota’s president, Koji Sato, said, “China is in a leading position in intelligence and electrification. If our products can be loved by Chinese consumers, they will surely be favored by the global market.”
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In a move that helps the brand duck protectionist anti-Chinese tariffs, Volvo Cars has switched production of its award-winning EX30 models destined for US roads from its Zhangjiakou plant in China to the Ghent facility in Belgium.
Volvo EX30 production began in the company’s Ghent factory back in April, but those first cars were earmarked for the Swedish domestic and European export markets, but that move wasn’t primarily motivated by avoiding tariffs. As Electrive reports, the company seemed happy enough to continue importing its small electric crossover from China and accepting the new 28.8% tariffs (up from 10%), but the wait times to get the vehicles shipped in from China was imply too long.
In 2024, Swedish and German buyers had to wait up to eight months for their EX30 in some cases, according to Volvo Cars’ European boss, Arek Nowinski, per Automotive News. Once production in Ghent is fully up to speed, however, wait times should be cut to about 90 days. Those wait times, and the price hike associated with the tariffs, have hurt sales of the originally Chinese-made Volvo EV. In 2024, for example, the EX30 ranked third in European EV sales, but slipped out of the top 10 first half of 2025.
“The car is now being built in Europe, which means faster delivery times,” Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson to Automotive News. “We should return to the sales and market share figures for the EX30 that we had before the introduction of tariffs.”
Coming to Staying in America
The EX30’s switch to Ghent is good news for American fans of the compact, lickety-quick Volvo EV. Now that it’s no longer exclusively made in China, Volvo has decided to give it a stay of execution as it revamps its US product lineup to better align with market trends (read: SUVs) and the changing political landscape (read: tariffs and inflation).
The reason? The Made in China version of the EX30 would virtually unsellable in the US due to the implementation of 147% tariffs on vehicles imported from China. Vehicles imported from Europe, meanwhile, carry just 15% tariffs, keeping the EX30 in a competitive price bracket.
Expect to see both Ghent and South Carolina play an increasingly large role in Volvo’s US product mix – at least for the next three-odd years.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Cars, Automotive News, via Electrive.
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New filings have revealed that BYD is about to release a ridiculous 3,000 hp electric supercar: the Yangwang U9 Track Edition.
BYD already shocked the world when it launched the Yangwang U9, its first all-electric supercar.
It featured four advanced electric motors with a combined power of nearly 1,300 horsepower. The U9 can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in just 2.36 seconds.
With a motor at each wheel and a highly advanced electric-air suspension, the U9 can turn on itself and even jump over potholes.
But that was only the beginning.
Based on a new filing with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), BYD is preparing to launch a new ‘Track Edition’ of the Yangwang U9:
When an automaker releases a “track” version of a car, it typically primarily features body changes for better aerodynamic performance, adding downforce, and it will also often feature bigger brakes.
The Yangwang U9 ‘Track Edition’ appears to feature all that… and much more.
The filing reveals that BYD updated the motors at each wheel to a new 555 kW motor. That’s a higher-performing motor than in most performance electric vehicles. The U9 Track Edition has four of them for a total of 2,220 kW (3,019 hp).
I would have thought that this was a typo if it wasn’t for the insane electric vehicles coming out of China these days.
Here are a few pictures from the MIIT filing:
There are a lot of performance specs that are not included in the MIIT filing. Therefore, it will be interesting to see when the vehicle is fully unveiled and BYD reveals what kind of performance it can achieve with 3,000 hp packed in 4 electric motors.
Here are a few other features mentioned in the filing:
Standard features:
- 20-inch wheels with 325/35 R20 tyres
- Carbon-fibre roof
- Large fixed carbon-fibre rear wing
- Rear diffuser with adjustable blades for aerodynamic optimisation
Optional aerodynamic parts:
- Standard or enhanced carbon-fibre front splitter
- Electric rear wing
Electrek’s Take
How are they going to keep that thing from flying away? Seriously.
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