The name comes from Toyota's Beyond Zero electrification strategy, while the 4X denotes it is a four-wheel-drive SUV.
The Toyota bZ4X is on sale now and as well as buying it outright, you'll be able to pick it up under a new leasing scheme launched by the firm that bundles together maintenance, the fitting of a wall box charger and access to connected services. The cost of the lease scheme has yet to be confirmed.
Cash prices start from £41,950 for a basic Pure model that comes with kit such as 18-inch alloy wheels, a reversing camera and climate control.
Motion models are next in line and start from £45,750 for a front-wheel-drive car and £48,350 for a four-wheel-drive model. They look sportier than the entry-level version thanks to their huge 20-inch alloy wheels, tinted windows and roof spoiler. They also come fitted with heated seats, wireless phone charging and a glass roof.
You can also choose from front and four-wheel-drive versions of Vision models – costing £47,650 or £50,250, respectively. Vision models have standard equipment that includes heated and cooled front seats, a digital key that means you can open and start the car with your phone and an electrically operated boot lid.
Premier Edition models come with four-wheel drive as standard and are priced from £51,550, they add to the specification of Visions cars with a glass roof and a powerful JBL stereo. Best electric SUVs in 2022
Toyota has given the bZ4X futuristic looks to go with its futuristic powertrain with crisp lines and sharp crease made possible by modern manufacturing techniques.
The front end has been modelled on a hammerhead shark, with slashed LED headlights that emphasise the width of the car.
The lack of a grille points to this being an electric car without the same cooling requirements as a petrol or diesel and Toyota has used the bZ4X's height to disguise the bulky battery hidden in the floor.
The Toyota's road clearance should help off-road and you also get plastic cladding around the wheel arches that can fend off errant bumps and scrapes off-road or, more likely, in the supermarket car park.
There's also some aero cleverness going on to help squeeze out as much range as possible – like a flat underside, vents that channel air around the front wheels as well as a roof and lip spoiler that smooths the car's wake.
We have yet to experience the interior for ourselves but Toyota claims to have made the most of the electric powertrain packaging advantages by giving the bZ4X a completely flat cabin floor. That should make it feel light and airy on the inside, and mean all three rear-seat passengers get an equal amount of foot room.
The back seat is a good place to be in the bZ4X as Toyota claims it'll serve up nearly a metre's worth of legroom. That said, the 452-litre boot is nothing to write home about – Toyota's own RAV4 offers 580 litres.
In terms of design, Toyota has followed a "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road" philosophy which centres on a fuss-free design with minimal distractions. The digital instrument binnacle sprouts up from behind the steering wheel and you get a large central infotainment screen with physical buttons reserved for things like the stereo and ventilation system.
Reinforcing the lounge-like theme is Toyota's heat-pump method of warming the cabin by drawing heat from the air ala the kind of flash houses that appear on Grand Designs.
If you're more used to the less glamorous rays of an infra-red heater in a pub garden, you're in luck because exactly such a device is used to warm you and your front-seat passenger legs. Both systems are more efficient than a traditional fan heater.
The Toyota bZ4X has a 71.4kWh battery which will give it a range of around 280 miles in front-wheel-drive form or 255 miles with all-wheel-drive fitted. It can be charged from 0-80% in around 30 minutes using a 150kWh fast charger.
Front-wheel-drive models have 204PS and get from 0-62mph in 8.4 seconds, all-wheel-drive models have 215PS and hit the same benchmark in 7.7 seconds. Both versions can also tow up to 750kg.
Steer-by-wire fitted to cars sold elsewhere won't make it to the UK but, as alluded to above, we do get all-wheel drive. It's one of the fruits of Toyota's collaboration with Subaru – the Toyota GT86 being another example – and sees the Toyota gain an 80kW motor on each axle, as well as driving modes for snow and mud.
More relevant most of the time is the car's driving assistance systems. To the forward-facing radar you'd expect to read about, Toyota adds side radar to help it spot obstacles missed by lesser systems.
As well as driving the car more or less unaided on any road with a centre line, it can also steer you around imminent collisions there's no room to brake for and can stop the car from pulling out of junctions into the path of another car.
Toyota might be about to release its first electric model, but the firm is much better known for producing petrol-electric hybrids – most famously the Prius. It might not have the SUV appeal of the bZ4X, but the Prius is a superb family car that you can run on a dime (well, as close to that as possible given modern fuel prices).
Examples of the Prius can be picked up for less than £2000. We'd advise aiming higher for an example of the current model that went on sale in 2015. About £18,000 is enough to get you a 2017 car with less than 50,000 miles on the clock and kit like cruise control and a reversing camera.
Hungry for 2022 new car news? Then we have a positive feast awaiting your digestion including the latest on the new Honda Civic Type R hot hatch, Volkswagen ID.5 EV and new Mercedes-Benz EQE luxury electric car.
The Toyota bZ4X has a range of 280 miles.
Prices for the Toyota bZ4X start from £41,950 for a Pure model rising to £51,550 for a range-topping Premiere Edition model.
The Toyota bZ4X is Toyota's first fully electric car.