Toyota bZ4X Touring confirmed for Aus

Toyota’s emphasis will remain on hybrids for the foreseeable future, but it still sees value in having electric vehicles in the showroom. Next year, the brand will double its EV offering with the arrival of the bZ4X Touring.

Toyota Australia will double the number of battery-electric models offered Down Under in the first half of 2026, when it introduces the Toyota bZ4X Touring to local showrooms, where it will join the regular bZ4X that’s been on sale since late 2023.

But though it wears a similar model designation, the bZ4X Touring will be a different animal to the regular bZ4X, Toyota’s first electric offering in Australia.

Stretched by 140mm behind the rear axle, the Touring also ditches the bZ4X’s fastback hatch styling in favour of a more conventional – and practical – wagon body style, with 30 per cent more luggage volume behind the second row.

The bZ4X Touring will also have to share the market with its Subaru-badged cousin, the Trailseeker, also slated for a 2026 Australian debut. Local pricing and specifications for both the Toyota bZ4X Touring and Subaru Trailseeker are yet to be announced.

Toyota's latest EV will be offered in Australia exclusively with a 280kW dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain and a 74.7kWh battery pack, making it Toyota’s most powerful unibody SUV to date, with a likely maximum driving range north of 400km.

But its 2026 arrival will also signal something else: Toyota’s commitment to rolling out more all-electric vehicles (EVs). Toyota has been the target of criticism in recent years for prioritising hybrids over pure EVs, but company leadership has been steadfast in maintaining a more holistic approach to decarbonisation – a strategy it calls its “Multi Pathway Approach”.

The arrival of a second EV will also be a critical part of how it complies with the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard.

“When you add the product portfolios we'll have over the next two to three years, more EVs, more plug in hybrids, hybrids, and to a very small degree fuel cell, we can start to balance our [NVES] penalty versus credit,” said Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss, Sean Hanley.

That means every sale of the bZ4X and bZ4X Touring will provide critical NVES credits that Toyota can use to offset the sales of dirtier vehicles, like the volume-selling HiLux, while maintaining a commitment to lowering fleet-wide carbon emissions.

“From our perspective, it [the Multi Pathway Approach] truly is about transitioning into decarbonisation in a way that's achievable and real. And we have not walked away from decarbonisation, but you've got to do it in a way that takes people on the journey. Otherwise, they just hang on to what they've got.”

Toyota Australia is yet to announce whether it’s examining the brand’s recently revealed Chinese market EVs for a local debut, with the bZ7 large sedan, bZ5 SUV, bZ3 small sedan and bZ3X small SUV all making debuts in China this year.

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