Toyota teases X Prologue, to unveil first all-electric SUV next week

Toyota has teased an image of what is widely believed to be the company’s first fully-electric passenger vehicle outside China, and will unveil it on Wednesday 17 March.

Called X Prologue, the image shows only the front quarter of the vehicle in red including a hook-like headlamp and the Japanese carmaker’s ubiquitous logo.

It is understood the X Prologue may be the battery-electric SUV promised by Toyota in late 2020 that it said was “nearly ready for production,” and would be previewed in coming months.

“Toyota will shortly take the next step in the rollout of its forthcoming battery-electric portfolio by first previewing an all-new mid-sized SUV in the coming months,” Koji Toyoshima, deputy chief officer of Toyota’s zero-emissions vehicle factory said in a statement at the time.

If the X Prologue is in fact this vehicle, the name itself clearly represents the Japanese auto giant’s first real step towards an electric future and its intentions beyond, which includes selling 5.5 electric and hybrid vehicles per year.

While Toyota sells hybrids by the bucketloads, including in Australia where the majority of its Rav4s sold in 2020 were hybrid, to date it has not yet made the leap to all-electric.

Presuming the X Prologue proves to be the long-awaited electric SUV, it will be built on the electric version of its Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform.

In December images were shared by Auto Express that purport to be the upcoming electric SUV, although it claimed that the model would be named “BZ”.

While Toyota had great success with its range of hybrid vehicles starting with the Prius in 1997 it lost its title of world’s most valuable carmaker to EV pioneer Tesla in 2020.

Although it has one zero-emissions vehicle – the hydrogen fuel cell Mirai – on the market, these face the challenge of expensive refuelling infrastructure as demonstrated in ex-Top Gear host James May’s decision to sell his Mirai because of a lack of fuelling options.

And so, it would appear Toyota is finally ready to take the step into the world of battery electric vehicles.

As the world leader in hybrids though, it would appear that Toyota plans no quiet entry into the world of battery electric either, also reflected in Toyota president Akio Toyoda’s famously scathing comment last year that Tesla has a recipe but lacks a ‘real kitchen and a real chef’.

Does this refer to the accompanying late 2020 revelation that Toyota would also reveal a solid-state battery that can recharge in 10 minutes in 2021?

Whether this will be part of the revelations of next Wednesday remain to be seen – when and if this eventuates it has the potential to set a very different playing field for electric vehicles in the decade ahead.