Toyota Looks To Rival Tesla With The New BZ4X EV

The New Zero-Emission SUV Unveiled At Shanghai Motor Show 2021 Will Be One Of The 15 Fully-Electric Vehicles The Company Intends To Sell Globally By 2025.

Toyota Motor Corporation TM has just launched a new electric SUV – the BZ4X – unveiling it at the Shanghai Motor Show 2021. The vehicle is expected to be sold globally by 2022, thus contributing to the company's goal of producing 70% hybrid cars by 2025.

Toyota Rav4 EV Latest Model: The Japanese automaker has provided no further details about its latest zero-emission vehicle – the first fully-electric model of its class since the Toyota RAV4 EV, which went out of production in 2014. The most recent version of that electric SUV, which was sold only in some parts of California and for just a couple of years, was equipped with batteries and electric motors provided by Tesla Inc. TSLA.

The New Model: While being a pioneer in hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles, Toyota has been slower than some other major automakers, such as General Motors Company GM and Volkswagen AG VWAGY, to enter the fully-electric vehicle market. The BZ4X model is being developed together with Subaru Corp FUJHF, and it will be one of the 15 rechargeable cars ready to be sold worldwide by 2025. The company also announced that there will be at least one electric pickup in that lineup, and seven of those electric vehicles will be sold under a new BZ sub-brand for EV – where “BZ” stands for “Beyond Zero”.

Zero Emissions By 2050: Toyota plans to become “carbon neutral” by 2050, thus meaning that the company's whole supply chain will be rethought in order not to add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

This article originally appeared on Financialounge.com and was translated from Italian to English. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited. For news coverage in Italian or Spanish, check out Benzinga Italia and Benzinga España.