Toyota electric SUV, its first global EV, is bound for Shanghai show

After spending years largely resisting full electrification, Toyota will travel to the 2021 edition of the Shanghai auto show to preview its first mainstream EV. The crossover will make its global debut as a close-to-production concept.

Toyota has dabbled in electric cars before. Its Chinese arm sells a battery-powered version of the C-HR developed jointly with local partner FAW. It has also unveiled a handful of electric vehicles that blur the line between a golf cart and a car, but they've either been concepts or niche vehicles created mostly for crowded Japanese urban centers. The concept scheduled to make its debut in Shanghai is significantly different, because it will compete in one of the most crowded segments of the electric car industry when it goes on sale during the first half of the 2020s.

British magazine Autocar learned that the crossover (whose name hasn't been revealed yet) will be about as big as a RAV4. It's likely not a coincidence that the RAV4 is the best-selling model in Toyota's American range, and one of the best-selling vehicles in the United States. It finished 2020 in fourth spot on the sales chart, behind perennially popular pickups sold by Ford, Chevrolet, and Ram, respectively. Clearly, the Japanese firm has volume in mind.