When Toyota revealed the new bZ3, it also published a picture that seemed just an old teaser for that electric sedan. It had the same lines, such as the beltline with a sort of higher step when it approaches the C-pillar towards the trunk. However, a closer look shows this vehicle is different, confirming the rumors that Toyota is developing a larger electric sedan. If the bZ3 is the electric Corolla, the bZ5 will be the electric Camry.
In the first image in our gallery, you can see an official picture of the bZ3’s back, obtained from a video Toyota released on Weibo. The rear glass has nothing standing over it or apparently installed in it, while the trunk lid makes the new electric sedan really look like a three-box vehicle, even if in a very subtle way. Now check the second image, the one that we initially thought was a bZ3 teaser.
It shows just the silhouette of a sedan with the same beltline design: a straight line that goes up all of a sudden close to the C-pillar. However, the rear end is quite different: the back glass and the trunk lid present an almost continuous line: it is as if they were a single thing. That may mean that the bZ5 – or whatever Toyota decides to call its electric Camry – is actually a liftback, not a sedan.
There is one more aspect that shows we are in front of different vehicles. Above the D-pillars, there are two components that seem to be air channels. If that is really the case, they are probably meant to force the air to go over the rear window, keeping dust and water away from it without the need for a rear wiper. They can also be just a design element without any practical application, but it does not seem that Toyota would do that with an electric car. Anything that can improve efficiency will make the EV travel further.
Finally, the rear of this other vehicle is more rounded than that of the bZ3, which presents a traditional square sedan rear end, almost as if it was cut with a knife. The window between the C-pillar and the D-pillar is also larger and more elongated.
It is not clear if BYD is also helping Toyota develop this larger sedan or if the Japanese carmaker will do it on its own. We seriously doubt the second possibility: Toyota does not want to sell electric cars without solid-state cells. It is just developing them in China because that’s what the CCP wants people to buy in big cities. The joint venture with BYD helps it offer these products without the need to invest in their development as much as it would if it did them alone. That said, expect it to have Blade Batteries and BYD motors, too.
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