Toyota teases new “sleek and stylish” battery EV

Japanese car giant Toyota has unveiled the barest hints of an upcoming new battery electric vehicle (EV) which it says features “a sleek and stylish coupe design combined with elevated driving dynamics and surprising space, comfort & versatility”.

Set to be revealed on March 12, the new Toyota EV is light on details at this point, and the teaser trailer the company released on Tuesday provides little more than silhouettes and fast cuts.

Toyota promises that the new EV will be “inspired by Toyota’s heritage of creating products with strong emotional appeal that bring wider choice to customers” but, beyond the claim that the car will be “exciting and surprising”, that’s all we really know.

We can see that the silhouette depicts a decidedly “sleek and stylish coupe design” with long, swooping lines, a lightbar above a square rear bumper, and what looks like Toyota’s new “hammerhead” front lighting design.

And, despite its apparent low-slung and compact look, Toyota’s claim that it boasts “surprising space” hints at a potentially versatile family car, potentially in the vein of the 2022-released bZ Compact SUV Concept.

It’s obviously unclear exactly whether we’re dealing with a sedan or a compact SUV, and there’s only so much that can be extracted from teaser trailers and images like this.

However, by adjusting the contrast on the teaser photo Toyota published to reveal the floor surface, and reading too much into the outdoor action snap-cuts in the video, it’s possible to convince oneself that we’re dealing with a taller compact SUV, rather than a more low-slung sedan.

Either way, for this next EV to succeed Toyota is either going to need to deliver a serious electric driving range or a much reduced price tag.