‘We Have Learned From The bZ4X Crisis’

As a rule, I don’t count Toyota out in the electric vehicle race—or the race for any future transportation technology. But my rule has its limits. While Toyota had a fantastic year in the U.S. in 2024 on the strengths of its hybrid cars, the cracks are beginning to show in other parts of the world. And now its “multi-pathway” approach to making lots of different powertrains is about to be tested as never before in a few key countries. One in particular says a lot about where Toyota’s EVs are going next.

That kicks off this Monday edition of Critical Materials, our morning roundup of auto industry and technology news. We’re in a bit of a post-CES 2025 news drought today, which is fine by me, but expect more coverage from InsideEVs about the rest of last week’s trade show soon.

Also on deck today: Tesla outsells Audi globally for the first time, and Hyundai courts President-elect Donald Trump, who steps into the White House again in one week. Let’s dig in.

30%: Building A Better bZ4X

Toyota is one of the few remaining automakers that truly operates at a global level with the scale to provide different cars to different parts of the world. Japan gets fuel-sipping city cars, America gets trucks like the Tacoma and Tundra, the Middle East and Africa get old-school diesel Land Cruisers—you get the idea. It has internal combustion cars, hybrids and hydrogen vehicles, though the latter isn’t really working out. 

One area where Toyota knows it’s deficient is purely electric vehicles. Company executives seem to be acknowledging this white space more and more, as they did to InsideEVs at CES just last week. Toyota may have the R&D, capital and infrastructure to make many different kinds of cars without committing to one single solution, but it doesn’t want to lose sales. And it is in China right now.

But there are other places where the EV revolution is also in force. One of them is Norway, where the new car market is basically 90% electric. Granted, that’s only a few hundred thousand cars—Americans bought probably 15 million last year, for context—but no car company wants to lose anywhere. So this interview of Toyota Norway CEO Piotr Pawlak with the country’s Motor publication is very telling. Some excerpts, with help from Google Translate: 

There are several elements to this. The Norwegian department will both educate the other markets and at the same time push out as many electric cars as possible in Norway. 

With an electric car share expected to exceed 90 percent by 2025, the Norwegian market is significant for the European electric car share. And growth in Norway will have more legs to stand on than bZ4X.

There is a 100 percent electric focus in Norway. We no longer care how many hybrids we sell here. They can be sold elsewhere, where it is possible to make money from them. This simply means that Pawlak would prefer to avoid selling anything other than electric cars. At least 80 percent of Toyotas delivered in Norway in 2025 should be electric. 

[…] We have learned from the bZ4X crisis, he says, guaranteeing that the upcoming models will have battery preheating, a good route planner and generally electric car technology that is expected in today’s market.

The new cars will be suitable for Norwegian use when it comes to charging, and they will be available with four-wheel drive.

The “bZ4X crisis” refers to the same criticisms U.S. and European EV shoppers have of Toyota’s primary electric offering: its range, price, charging and software specs are already uncompetitive and getting outclassed by new entries all of the time. In the case of chilly Norway, a good EV needs proper four- or all-wheel-drive, cold weather resilience, battery preconditioning and route-planning. The bZ4X doesn’t measure up on most of that. 

But I bring this up Pawlak’s comments do matter to the rest of the world: if what the CEO says is true, then Toyota’s clearly working on this stuff. It has high hopes for the new Urban Crusier compact electric (pictured above) and has several new EV models planned globally for 2026 and beyond. Some of those EVs will assuredly be Europe-specific and it will likely continue leaning on local partners in China, but more and more, the message is clear: Even if Toyota doesn’t envision an all-electric future as other carmakers do, it can’t let EVs be some afterthought anymore. And in the U.S., people certainly want good electric options from this trusted brand. 

60%: Tesla Beats Audi Globally For The First Time

Photo by: InsideEVs

Speaking of things that aren’t working, the Volkswagen Group is keenly aware that Audi is pretty far from the power-hitter that it was in the 2000s and 2010s. Global Audi sales were down a whole 14% in 2024 and the declines hit the entire lineup. It’s an older lineup, too, and perhaps speaking subjectively, the new crop of Audis just don’t look as cool as the white-hot Audis did 20 years ago. And amid all of the VW Group’s wider technology challenges, their software and automated driving features lag behind many competitors.  

So who pulled ahead of Audi last year? None other than Tesla, Bloomberg reports:

Tesla overtook Audi, one of Germany’s most prized premium car brands, last year despite selling fewer vehicles than expected.

Audi sold 1.67 million vehicles in 2024, down 12 percent from a year earlier. Audi’s struggle with intensifying competition in Europe and China and weak demand for its electric models dropped the brand behind Elon Musk’s Tesla, which delivered 1.79 million vehicles last year.

But Tesla’s rapid expansion in the preceding few years positioned the company to take advantage of any slip-ups by incumbents. Its Model Y SUV ranks among the world’s best-selling cars and is getting a facelift this year.

Germany’s automakers, meanwhile, are contending with tepid demand for luxury cars in China, where a recovery remains uncertain and local automakers are pushing further upmarket.

I’d also argue that Tesla has an “aging lineup” problem of its own, with the Cybertruck not really moving the needle much last year. But the new Model Y is on its way. I’d be shocked if that doesn’t sell well on its own. 

So can Audi catch up? It’s about to launch its biggest new product offensive ever, ranging from the new Q6 E-Tron to the A6 E-Tron sedan and gas-powered A7 and Q3. (Remember, at Audi, even numbers are electric and odd ones are gas and hybrid cars.) But the fact that Audi offers many different kinds of powertrains and still got smoked by an all-electric automaker shows it has work to do.

90%: Hyundai Courts Trump, Too

Photo by: InsideEVs

Lots of folks who aren’t fans of Trump have complained at how many companies—Ford, General Motors and Toyota among them—are cozying up to the incoming president with big donations to his inaugural fund. They’d say they’re trying to open up business relationships with a president who puts real emphasis on transactional relationships; if you don’t love Trump, you probably don’t love the idea of the dollars from a product you purchased headed in his direction.

Regardless of how you feel, you can add Hyundai to that list, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s making a $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural fund. And part of that goal seems to be a sit-down with the president to try and talk him out of his anti-Mexico tariffs, which would be extremely disruptive to the automotive supply chain: 

Hyundai in particular has launched an aggressive campaign to build relationships with Trump advisers. The company has told the president-elect’s aides that it is working to be a U.S. job creator and a supporter of the American auto industry.

If the company lands a sit-down with Trump, either at his Florida estate Mar–a-Lago or at the White House once he takes office, they have discussed sending Hyundai CEO José Muñoz and Hyundai Motor Group executive chair, Euisun Chung, to participate, the people briefed on the matter said.

Hyundai executives, including Muñoz and Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chair Jaehoon Chang, may attend inauguration events, the people said. A $1 million donation provides six tickets to a private candlelight dinner with Trump and his wife Melania Trump on Jan. 19, one day before Trump is sworn in as president, according to a benefits package reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The contribution also allows for six tickets to a private reception on Jan. 18. with Trump’s cabinet picks, as well as other exclusive events. 

Trade experts said Hyundai would be hard hit by tariffs since many of the parts used in its vehicles are manufactured abroad. “They’re going to get hit with direct sales to the United States and even the domestic produced vehicles will take a hit because of all of their imported parts,” said Scott Lincicome, a vice president of the Cato Institute, whose research includes international trade.

The U.S. is by far Hyundai’s biggest and most important market, and it remains heavily dependent on Mexico for production and the overall supply chain. (Nobody at Hyundai will talk about this openly, but this is probably why the Kia EV3 is taking so long to get to the U.S.; they may not be sure yet where and how they can build it, and what impact tariffs would have on those plans.) 

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz said it congratulates the incoming president, but does not have plans to donate to his inaugural fund. Do with that information as you will.

100%: How Does Audi Get Back In The Game?

Design would be a great start. More like the car on the right and less like the car on the left, please, Audi. In fact, that ultra-streamlined design language that put Audi on the map would work extremely well in the electric era.

What would you recommend to Audi? Let us know in the comments.

Contact the author: [email protected]