Toyota will lease the bZ4X SUV to Japanese motorists at the equivalent of $US39,000 for the first four years. Cancelling within in the first 48 months will attract an additional fee.

The lease deal is at odds with other EVs on Japanese roads, including Tesla that is enjoying growing sales.

Shinya Kotera, the president of KINTO, the Toyota unit offering the leases, said first-time customers were concerned about battery life and the potential fall in the trade-in value over time.

“It’s our role to dispel anxiety” toward EVs, he said.

Speaking to Automotive News, an analyst for Hong Kong-based investment group CLSA said by leasing the EV, Toyota could risk losing market share.

CLSA analyst Christopher Richter said, “Anything you are doing that’s making it harder to buy is maybe not a good thing.

Toyota bZ4X

“It’s a strategy I am not that fond of. It does signal that Toyota is taking the home market a little bit for granted.”

Toyota aims to lease 5000 of the SUVs in Japan in the current financial year. That is estimated by Automotive News to be equivalent to Japan’s Tesla sales in 2021.

Toyota plans to start selling the bZ4X in other markets later this year with pre-orders already started in some European countries.

Toyota has not decided when it will make the cars available in Japan, a Toyota spokesperson said.

In Australia, the bZ4X will be sold, rather than leased. This follows other markets including the US, UK and Europe.

No pricing has been announced for Australia but it is expected to start at under $A65,000.

As an indication to pricing, in the UK the bZ4X starts at £41,950 ($A74,450) and goes up to £51,550 ($A91,500) for the Premiere edition. 

By comparison, the UK price for a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid is £33,930 (Toyota UK pricing which is equivalent to $A60,210) and in Australia, the SUV starts at $A36,900. 

In the US, the bZ4X costs from $US42,000 ($A60,730).

The Subaru Solterra, the first production full EV from Subaru, is heavily related to the Toyota bZ4X and will come to Australia in the first half of 2023 at an expected $A64,000. 

Toyota subsidiary Lexus sells its first full EV, the UX300e, from $A74,000. It will introduce its RZ450e, based on the bZ4X and Solterra, later this year.

In Japan, petrol-electric hybrids are far more popular than EVs. In 2021, EVs accounted for only 1 per cent of total passenger-car sales.

But the movement to EVs is starting. Japan imports of battery EVs jumped almost three times to a record 8610 vehicles in 2021, according to industry data. Analysts estimate roughly 60 per cent of those were Teslas.

Toyota has stated it will commit $A90 billion to electrify its cars by 2030.

Nissan, which claims to have pioneered mass-market EVs with the Leaf in 2010, will launch only its second battery EV model, the Ariya SUV, in Japan this month.

It will cost the equivalent of $A60,500, not including a government subsidy.

Toyota bZ4X

By Neil Dowling