Every month, we recap the latest electric vehicle news as the race to embrace all things electric in the motoring industry continues.
Toyota bZ4X Concept
The new bZ4X Concept, a medium-size SUV developed in partnership with Subaru, is the latest concept study in Toyota’s journey to achieve zero emissions that began more than 20 years ago with the launch of the original Prius, the world’s first mass-production hybrid electric car. To date, Toyota has sold more than 17 million electrified vehicles, the vast majority of these being hybrid electric vehicles. In its pursuit of hybrid electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, Toyota has consistently shunned battery electric vehicles, going so far as to publish advertising campaigns that disparage battery electric vehicles while extolling the virtues of “self-charging” hybrid electric vehicles.
Apparently, this is about to change as the bZ4X Concept is built on Toyota’s new e-TNGA modular platform, developed specifically for electric vehicles, and is the first model to feature Toyota’s new bZ – beyond Zero – naming convention. By 2025, Toyota aims to introduce 15 battery electric vehicles, including seven Toyota bZ models (approximately 10% of its electrified vehicle offering).
While Toyota has not yet released any information on battery size, range, or performance, we know that the bZ4X Concept will feature an all-wheel-drive system, delivered by electric motors on the front and rear axles to ensure genuine off-road capability. The Toyota bZ4X Concept will also feature a novel combination of a steering yoke and a steer-by-wire system. Sales of the production version are expected to commence around the middle of 2022.
Jaguar I-PACE Black
As Jaguar I-PACE global sales continue to slump for the fifth quarter out of the last six quarters (year-on-year), Jaguar is giving the I-PACE the Black treatment in the hopes of reviving the appeal that helped it win 88 global automotive awards – including the AutoTrader 2020 South African Car of the Year award, and the triple accolades of World Car of the Year, World Car Design of the Year and World Green Car in 2019. Given the fact that these awards have failed to win over buyers, now, four years after it was first launched, the all-electric SUV’s design appeal has been heightened by the creation of the I-PACE Black.
The I-PACE Black specification is overtly impressive and includes a panoramic roof, privacy glass and a Black Pack comprising Gloss Black finish applied to the door mirror caps as well as the grille, grille surround, side window surrounds, and rear badges. Sporting 20” five-spoke wheels, the I-PACE Black is currently available in the full-colour spectrum, including Aruba and Farallon Pearl black premium metallic paints. The I-PACE Black interior features Ebony leather sports seats, and Gloss Black trim finishers complemented by an Ebony headliner.
Fitted with a 90 kWh battery powering two electric motors, the all-wheel-drive SUV delivers 294 kW and 696 Nm of instant torque, enabling acceleration from 0-100 km in 4.8 seconds and a range of 396 km (EPA). An 11 kW onboard allows a full charge in less than nine hours when plugged into a three-phase 11 kW wall box or less than 13 hours when plugged into a single-phase 7 kW wall box. Using a 60 kW DC charger, akin to the units found along the Jaguar Powerway public charging network in South Africa, the I-PACE can be charged from 10-80% in approximately one hour. The Jaguar I-PACE Black is scheduled for a South African launch in the third quarter of 2021, with pricing to be announced closer to the time.
Tesla to the Moon
In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla produced more than 180,000 vehicles and delivered approximately 185,000 vehicles, achieving the best quarter in the relatively short history of the Silicon Valley company. Total deliveries increased 109% year-on-year and, with the Model S/X production line having been down for retooling purposes, Model 3/Y deliveries soared to a whopping 140% year-on-year increase. Surprisingly, with only 2020 pre-refresh Model S/X units delivered during the first quarter, Tesla still reported a 74% year-on-year improvement on net income of $438 million, based on total revenue of nearly $10.4 billion for the quarter.
Already the best-selling premium sedan in the US, the Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling premium sedan globally in Q1 2021, outselling other premium sedans such as the BMW 3-Series, Mercedes E-Class, Audi Q5 and Audi A6. In Europe, where EV adoption continues to increase exponentially, Tesla delivered a record 31,200 Model 3s, amounting to nearly 20,000 units more than the Renault Zoe (12,600) in second and the VW ID.3 (11,772) in third place. In China, the largest EV market in the world, the tiny $4,500 Wuling HongGuang Mini EV continued to dominate Q1 2021 sales with a total of 96,674 deliveries. However, the premium Model 3, with an average selling price above $50,000, recorded 52,859 deliveries, which is more than double the deliveries achieved by the third-best BYD Han EV (21,354).
With no end in sight to its increasing global demand, the Model 3 also remains the most-searched EV on Google by a factor of more than ten.
Still, as successful as the Model 3 sales are, in Tesla’s most recent earnings call, Elon Musk remarked that he expects that the Model Y will become the best-selling car in the world “by revenue in 2022, and possibly by unit volume in 2023″. Pundits quickly speculated that Tesla is targeting the world’s best-selling Toyota Corolla, boasting global sales of more than 1.2 million per annum. Surpassing the sales figures of the venerable Toyota Corolla is an excessively ambitious goal, but then again… so is landing orbital-class rockets, not to mention implanting a wireless brain-machine interface that enables a monkey to play Pong using only its brain. To paraphrase Toyota President Akio Toyoda, time will tell whether Tesla has a “real kitchen and a real chef”… Ready. Steady. Cook!
Porsche Taycan Sales Surge
In the first quarter of 2021, Porsche delivered 71,986 vehicles to customers worldwide. The number of deliveries increased significantly by 36% in comparison to the previous year. The sports car manufacturer achieved double-digit growth in all sales regions.
“Established models have supported this excellent result along with the latest additions to our product range, above all the new model variants of the all-electric Taycan,” said Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG. With that statement, Detlev von Platen may well have understated the sales performance of the exceptional all-electric Porsche Taycan.
With 9,072 deliveries, Porsche’s first all-electric sports sedan outperformed the 718 Boxster/Cayman (6,190 deliveries), and the Panamera (5,600 deliveries), and the Taycan came within 100 units of surpassing the 911 sports car icon (9,133 deliveries).
Based on Taycan’s first-quarter deliveries, Porsche appears to be on target to deliver 40,000 units for the year, which would represent 100% growth on the marginally more than 20,000 Taycans delivered in 2020.
With much speculation fueling the rumour mill, an all-electric Macan may be slated for release in 2022 alongside the current internal combustion engine versions. We predict that an all-electric Cayenne could potentially be on the drawing board in Zuffenhausen, but the pièce de résistance would undoubtedly be an all-electric 911 to pursue the records set by the iconic Porsche 918 Spyder. Porsche’s all-electric future is most certainly looking brighter than ever. We can’t wait!
