Toyota Compact Cruiser EV concept detailed after winning the award; Small Land Cruiser will be produced?
One of the lots of electric car concepts Toyota revealed in December is a small SUV that is certainly meant to evoke old Land Cruisers. The compact cruiser, as it was called, was lost while news of Four upcoming Beyond Zero (bZ) and four Lexus EVsbut recently it has re-emerged thanks to winning the Car Design Award for concepts.
To celebrate this achievement, Toyota’s European division has released further details, images and sketches of the Compact Cruiser, designed at European Design Development (ED).2) center in Nice, France. The company says the anytime, anywhere EV is designed to “enhance the lifestyle” of young urban professionals, especially those who enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle.
Inspired by the original BJ and FJ Land Cruiser, the Compact Cruiser has a boxy, solid yet modern design, with an upright front fascia and glass doors, wraparound front windshield design, bumpers and bumpers. Luxury black fenders. The upper full-width grille graphic incorporates C-shaped headlights reminiscent of the iconic Land Cruiser 70 and is surrounded by an air intake on the bonnet and a large skid plate and cool linear slits below.
Along the side you’ll find a meandering window line and contrasting C-pillars, where a ladder is mounted on the right side. The rear part is connected to a rather large roof rack, running down the protruding rear door. Cubic taillights and large two-tone alloy wheels (the blue model shown late last year has a different design on the sides) complete the look.
The Compact Cruiser may be a concept for now, but Toyota has big plans for electrification, after all these years. It plans to roll out no less than 30 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2030, meaning there’s plenty of room for niche vehicles, including sports cars and outdoor models like the one you see here.
Meanwhile, Toyota is preparing for the start of sales bZ4X, its first dedicated EV. It will be offered in 204 PS front-wheel drive and 218 PS all-wheel drive variants, with a 71.4 kWh lithium-ion battery providing a range of up to 516 km on the WLTP cycle. The SUV is also coming to Malaysia, with a premiere written in 2023.
