Toyota takes on Tesla: Sleek Toyota sedan unveiled in China to lead charge against Tesla Model S
Toyota and China’s state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) have unwrapped two stylish concepts at the 2023 Guangzhou auto show that reveal how the world’s biggest car-maker is playing catch-up when it comes to EVs.
The new GAC Toyota sedan goes by the name Comfortable Space, while the SUV is called the Enjoyable Space. Both are said to be late prototypes of two production models that will be on sale in China in 2025.
Featuring a design influenced by the Toyota bZ Sport Crossover concept that was revealed earlier this year, the all-electric sedan comes with the same hammerhead nose design which incorporates ultra slim full-width LED lighting.
Instead of a simple slab-sided approach favoured by many new cars the sedan gets sculptured doors and curvy rear arches plus rakish coupe-style lines.
For now the sedan misses out on door mirrors but expect them to return on the production vehicle.
According to early reports, the GAC Toyota sedan measures in at around 5000mm long with a long wheel base of almost 3000mm that means, as well as the Tesla Model S, the Comfort Space will also be a natural rival for the NIO ET7 and recently revealed Geely Galaxy E8.
The new Enjoyable Space SUV, meanwhile, is based on the earlier bZ FlexSpace concept that was revealed earlier this year in April.
Said to be 4800mm long with a wheelbase of 2900mm long, the smaller of the two concepts has the best-selling Tesla Model Y in its sights and will be priced from just 250,000 yuan ($A52,000).
From launch there will be both single and dual-motor powertrains offered but no technical specifications have yet been revealed.
It’s also not known what platform both cars will be based on, nor if there will be any plans to export them outside of China.