Toyota and Subaru will launch their second jointly developed electric SUV in 2026, according to Japanese business news outlet Nikkei Asia.
Like the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra, the unnamed EV will be sold in Japan, Europe and the US, making it a solid chance for Australian release.
Nikkei Asia also says production of both new models will begin around January 2026 at Subaru’s Yajima plant in Japan, where up to 20,000 vehicles will be produced per month.
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Subaru Solterra 
Toyota bZ4X
Also like the bZ4X and Solterra, which per the GR86 and BRZ ‘Toyobaru’ coupes are virtually identical twins except for badging and mild front-end differences, both new EVs will reportedly share “key components”.
They’ll also borrow technologies from the bZ4X and Solterra.
Subaru, in which Toyota holds a 20 per cent stake, said in May that it and Toyota would mutually launch four EVs by the end of 2026, one of which was expected to be a seven-seat electric SUV built by Toyota in the US.
According to Nikkei, however, that SUV has now been delayed due to design changes and slowing EV sales in North America.
Toyota bZ Large SUV concept
Subaru previously promised to sell up to 600,000 EVs per annually, accounting for half of its global sales, by 2030.
Back in 2021, Toyota – the world’s largest carmaker – committed to releasing 10 new battery-electric vehicles and selling 1.2 million EVs by 2026, and launching 30 new Toyota and Lexus EVs – accounting for 3.5 million annual sales – by 2030.
Last year it upped its near-term sales target to 1.5 million EV sales by 2026, but last month Toyota became the latest carmaker to revise downwards its EV ambitions – like Volkswagen, Ford and Volvo – in this case slashing its forecast by 33 per cent to one million units in 2026, due to “the slowdown in the global EV market”, according to Nikkei.
From a target of 100,000 global EV sales in 2023, Toyota now forecasts production of just 140,000 EVs in 2024 and 400,000 in 2025.
Toyota bZ3
It’s unclear what impact the reduced EV production plan will have on new Toyota model launches. The Japanese giant previously promised to launch seven bZ (‘beyond Zero’) battery-electric models globally by 2025.
Locally, Toyota Australia has committed to having three EVs on sale here by 2026.
The bZ4X was released in Australia in March. Since then, 771 examples of the mid-size electric SUV have been sold here and Toyota expects to sell just 1250 examples of its first EV in its first year on the market.
Toyota revealed the smaller bZ3 electric sedan in China in 2022 and at the 2024 Beijing motor show it unveiled production versions of the bZ3C hatchback and bZ3X compact SUV.
Toyota bZ3C 
Toyota bZ3X
At the time, all three compact EVs, which were co-developed with Toyota’s Chinese partners, were said to be intended primarily for China, where production would begin “within a year”.
The bZ3 was developed with BYD, the bZ3C with FAW and the bZ3X with GAC. None have yet to be confirmed for sale outside China.
Unlike the mid-size bZ4X and the larger US-built electric SUV – expected to be called the bZ5X – all three bZ3 compact EVs may only be available with a single-motor (front-drive) electric powertrain and a smaller battery offering a shorter range.
While the bZ4X is Toyota’s answer to the top-selling Tesla Model Y (and could also spawn mid-size bZ4 sedan and bZ4C hatch rivals for the Model 3) and the bZ5X could become a direct competitor for the Kia EV9 seven-seat SUV, the bZ3X would compete with small electric SUVs like the Hyundai Kona Electric.
