Joint-venture automakers counterattack: GAC Toyota launches its first smart electric SUV in the 100,000-yuan class | The Frontline

Text | Li Anqi

Editor | Li Qin

At the beginning of the year, after BYD launched a large - scale intelligent driving popularization campaign, from new - energy vehicle startups to traditional automakers and even joint - venture car companies, all began to promote intelligent driving as a core selling point with unprecedented intensity.

On March 6th, GAC Toyota launched its first intelligent electric vehicle, the bZ3X. The new car comes in 7 configurations, with a price range of 109,800 - 159,800 yuan. Notably, this is GAC Toyota's first intelligent pure - electric SUV in the 100,000 - yuan price range, significantly lowering the price threshold. Meanwhile, the bZ3X is also GAC Toyota's first vehicle equipped with a lidar, bringing the price of high - level intelligent driving models with lidar into the 140,000 - yuan market segment.

While vigorously promoting high - level intelligent driving, the bZ3X retains GAC Toyota's safety quality and core product values such as large interior space. In GAC Toyota's words, this is a family car that combines the characteristics of new - energy vehicle startups and Toyota.

In the past few years, after BYD introduced the "same price for gasoline and electric vehicles" strategy, and Xiaomi, NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, and Huawei - affiliated companies led the intelligent electric vehicle wave, joint - venture car companies in China have hardly been able to fight back and could only cut prices to barely maintain their market share.

However, the situation may start to change in 2025. The most obvious change is that joint - venture car companies are actively embracing intelligentization and aiming to catch up with the leading new - energy vehicle startups.

The GAC Toyota bZ3X is equipped with a lidar and competes in the high - level intelligent driving field, which is a strong evidence of this trend.

In terms of hardware, the intelligent driving version of the bZ3X is equipped with a high - level intelligent driving chip, NVIDIA Orin - X, and one lidar. The vehicle has a total of 27 sensors, which is the mainstream solution for high - level intelligent driving in the industry.

In terms of software algorithms, GAC Toyota has partnered with Momenta, a leading domestic intelligent driving technology company, and is equipped with Momenta's latest one - stage end - to - end large - model solution. As a result, its high - level intelligent driving experience has quickly caught up with the first - tier domestic level.

Officially, through continuous training with the AI data flywheel, combining long - and short - term memory to solve the recognition of rare long - tail problems, the bZ3X can achieve "human - like driving" without relying on high - definition maps. Whether it's a "sudden appearance" situation in an urban village or driving through heavy rain at night, the system can make pre - judgments.

In terms of the intelligent cockpit, the bZ3X comes standard with a 14.6 - inch multi - function touchscreen display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 automotive - grade chip, featuring functions such as four - zone voice interaction, a panoramic sunroof, and 50W ultra - fast wireless charging. In terms of the cockpit experience, the gap between the bZ3X and domestic new - energy vehicle startups is no longer significant.

Of course, in addition to emphasizing the cost - effectiveness of intelligent pure - electric vehicles, GAC Toyota also strongly emphasizes the brand's safety heritage. Relying on its past car - manufacturing experience, it has extended high - quality and high - safety features to entry - level models in the 100,000 - yuan price range.

According to official information, in terms of body safety, more than 70% of the special steel used in the passive safety body of the bZ3X is high - strength steel, and the proportion of 1500 - megapascal hot - formed materials reaches 30%. The middle part of the body uses a "cross - through structure" and "five floor cross - beams" made entirely of hot - formed materials.

In terms of battery safety, the bZ3X adopts a protection standard that exceeds the national standard, ensuring that after a single battery cell experiences thermal runaway, it will not catch fire or explode, and the thermal runaway will not spread to adjacent cells.

GAC Toyota said that the bZ3X fully adheres to Toyota's safety backup development concept and is equipped with a "triple - double and one - redundancy" safety guarantee. It uses a dual - system for brake assist, dual power sources for brake assist, cross - dual control of the left and right wheels by the parking brake ECU, and an "emergency power - off button" that can cut off the power supply with one click when necessary, adding an extra layer of physical safety redundancy for the pure - electric vehicle.

In addition, GAC Toyota is also benchmarking against new - energy vehicle startups in terms of large interior space. The seats in the car have various layout options. The front seats can be fully reclined to 180 degrees with one click, and the rear seat backrest can be adjusted by a large angle of 20 degrees. When the front seats are reclined, it forms a "flat floor" space.

This is GAC Toyota's first strategic model developed independently in China. Actively participating in the domestic competition in intelligent driving, intelligent cockpits, and large interior space, while integrating the safety concepts cultivated in China for more than 20 years, GAC Toyota hopes to re - arouse market expectations.