The electric car bZ4x is such a big deal for Toyota that the Japanese want to scrap the name. And now the Norwegian importer says it has learned from the crisis.
Here at home, criticism has rained down on Toyota's first mass-produced attempt at a wired electric car. But it's not just in Denmark that things have gone badly.
The Norwegians don't like the car either. Up North, managing director Piotr Pawlak is happy to admit that mistakes were made.
He tells this to the media outlet Motor .
– We have learned from the bZ4X crisis. The new cars must be suitable for Norwegian use when it comes to charging, and they must be available with four-wheel drive, he says.
Just like here at home, the Norwegians sawed the Japanese electric car in half for having a range, performing poorly on winter roads, and generally being a bad bet for an electric car.
Still, the managing director in Norway believes that Toyota will sell the most electric cars in the country. Not in 2025. But from 2026, he believes it will take off.
– We will be the best-selling brand in 2026 in Norway. We won't reach it in 2025, the new car models will come too late in the year. Remember that we have now had a good market share with one electric car model, with the new ones the sky is the limit.
On the other hand, the management in Japan has announced that they are cutting back heavily on the production of electric cars. Read more about it here .
Here in Denmark, Toyota was the third best-selling car brand in 2024. But the electric car bZ4x was still a pare in the accounts. 1,798 cars were sold. In comparison, the Danish importer sold almost as many Corolla models and even more of the Yaris and Aygo X.
In total, Toyota sold just under 14,000 of the total 173,000 new passenger cars that hit Danish roads during 2024. Only Volkswagen and Tesla did better.
The latter delivered 16,000 new cars to Danish drivers last year. That's a lot. And not just because in 2023 Tesla sold a whopping 22,325 cars here.
