Toyota Compact Cruiser EV idea detailed after award win; mini-Land Cruiser to enter manufacturing?

One of many horde of electric vehicle concepts Toyota revealed in December was a small, rugged SUV meant to evoke the Land Cruisers of previous. The Compact Cruiser, as it’s known as, was misplaced amid the information of four upcoming Beyond Zero (bZ) and four Lexus EVs, but it surely just lately resurfaced due to it profitable the Automotive Design Award for ideas.

To have a good time the achievement, Toyota’s European arm launched extra particulars, pictures and sketches of the Compact Cruiser, which was designed on the European Design Improvement (ED²) centre in Good, France. The corporate says the go-anywhere, all-wheel-drive EV was designed to “improve the existence” of younger skilled urbanites, significantly those that take pleasure in lively out of doors existence.

Impressed by the unique BJ and FJ Land Cruiser, the Compact Cruiser sports activities a boxy, rugged but trendy design, with an upright entrance finish and glasshouse, a wraparound entrance windscreen design and chunky black bumpers and fender flares. The total-width higher grille graphic incorporates C-shaped headlights harking back to the long-lasting Land Cruiser 70 and is framed by a bonnet air consumption up prime and a big skid plate and funky linear slits down beneath.

Alongside the facet, you’ll discover a kinked window line and contrasting-colour C-pillars, the place a ladder is mounted on the best facet. The latter is related to a sizeable roof rack, which runs down in the direction of the protruding tailgate. Angular hollowed-out taillights and huge two-tone alloy wheels (the blue laborious mannequin confirmed on the finish of final yr options completely different designs on both facet) full the look.

The Compact Cruiser is likely to be an idea for now, however Toyota has huge plans for electrification, after years of dragging its toes. It plans to launch a minimum of 30 battery electrical autos (BEVs) by 2030, which implies there’s loads of room for area of interest autos, together with sports activities automobiles and outdoorsy fashions like the sort you see right here.

Within the meantime, Toyota is gearing up for the beginning of gross sales of the bZ4X, its first devoted EV. It is going to be made obtainable in 204 PS front-wheel-drive and 218 PS all-wheel-drive variants, with the 71.4 kWh lithium-ion battery delivering a variety of as much as 516 km on the WLTP cycle. The SUV will make its method to Malaysia too, with a launch pencilled in for 2023.