While pricing has not yet been announced, the bZ4X is unlikely to be either the cheapest or the most expensive electric vehicle of that size or segment, but brand executives said at a media event here this week that they expect it will sell well because of Toyota’s sterling reputation among its loyal customers. Toyota has the industry’s highest rate of customer retention and was the only brand able to keep more than 60 percent of its customers from straying, according to the 2021 report from Naked Lime.
“The Toyota bZ4X looks like it is the right package — a crossover — and is coming at the right time,” said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive. “The big question is price, which is the biggest obstacle for consumers.”
Doug Eroh, president of Longo Toyota in El Monte, Calif., the nation’s largest Toyota dealership by volume, said: “I believe the bZ4X is a game-changing product for us. Our guests have been asking for a battery-electric vehicle for some time. Tesla is a big player in this market, and many Tesla owners also own or have owned Toyotas, so we believe we will be able to win back a lot of this business to our brand and our dealership.”
Eroh said 47 percent of the metropolitan Los Angeles dealership’s sales are already hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell vehicles.
“Many of these guests desire to move up to a fully battery-electric vehicle from Toyota, and we will now have a great new option for them,” he said.
