Here’s a Toyota Izoa EV, a super-rare electric car for the Chinese car market. I saw it in northwest Beijing in late summer. The Izoa EV, “EV” is part of its name, was a China-only electric hatchback.
About FAW-Toyota
The manufacturer of the Izoa is FAW-Toyota (一汽丰田), a long-running joint venture between First Auto Works and Toyota Corporation. It was established in 2000, and the company is based in Tianjin. At the moment, it sells a large lineup of ICE/HEV/PHEV/EV models.
The Toyota Izoa was a re-badged variant of the Toyota C-HR subcompact crossover SUV. The Chinese name of the Izoa was 奕泽 (Yìzé).
Production of the petrol-powered Izoa began in China in 2018 and lasted until 2023. In 2020, FAW-Toyota launched the Izoa EV, in a bid to capitalize on China’s growing EV market. Toyota didn’t have any dedicated EV models for the Chinese market, so turning the Ezoa into an electric car seemed a smart shortcut at the time.
The Toyota Ezoa EV
The Izoa EV retained the Izoa’s design, but Toyota designed a closed grille, new bumpers, aero wheels, and added a bunch of “EV” and “electric” badges.
It was unusual in China in that period to put an English-language “ELECTRIC” badge on a vehicle. Toyota, or so it seemed, really wanted to show off with this one.
These stickers were standard. The Izoa had an unusual rear-door handle design that Chinese consumers weren’t used to. The extra stickers warned them to be careful.
The interior of the Toyota Izoa EV
Toyota didn’t change the overall design, but the dashboard featured a blue accent line. At the time, blue was the typical color used on EVs and in their marketing in China — unlike most of the world, which used green. The owner of this particular car added a steering wheel cover. There’s also a pack of tisses and a large pack of cookies.
Specifications of the Toyota Izoa EV
Toyota redesigned the center tunnel to accommodate the drive selector. The Izoa’s setup was single-motor front-wheel drive. It had an output of 150 kW (204 hp) and 300 Nm, decent values at the time. The Izoa EV had a 160 km/h top speed, and it accelerated from 0-50 in 3.4 seconds. Toyota didn’t claim a 0-100 time, so, presumably, it wasn’t very fast.
Toyota fitted a 54.3 kWh ternary lithium battery. It had a 13.1 kWh/100 km electricity consumption and a range of 400 km. Fast-charging took very long, 30-75% in 6.5 hours. Notably, 75% is a very unusual metric in China. Most car makers use either 20-80% or 30-80%.
Pricing and sales
Toyota priced the Izoa EV from 225.800 to 253.800 yuan in 2020. That was way more than it asked for the petrol version, which cost between 149.800 and 167.800 yuan.
The high price and its lack of charging speed made the Izoa EV a slow seller. Toyota manufactured it for only one year and pulled the plug in late 2021. Even now, Toyota hasn’t launched a dedicated self-developed EV in China. Its current EV offerings are instead largely based on Chinese technology. That is, again, a shortcut, but like wth the Izoa EV, shortcuts mostly don’t end well long-term.