Toyota's electrification has been frustrated, and the pure electric bZ4X SUV has been on the market for less than two months.

The reason given by Toyota is not the rumored charging failure, but the possibility of loose hub bolts on the bZ4X tires.It is easy to cause the tire to fall off.

Toyota's road to electrification has been bumpy.

The first is that not long ago, the launch conference of GAC Toyota bZ4X temporarily canceled the announcement of the price. At that time, the person in charge of GAC Toyota explained that "the entire market is affected by the supply of chips, and the price fluctuates greatly, and the vehicle offline time cannot be accurately estimated for the time being. After comprehensive consideration, the price announcement will be postponed.”

But at that time, someone on the Internet said that "Toyota found in a recent test that its battery management system would go wrong in a severe cold environment, making it impossible to charge."

But today Toyota officially launched a global recall of the bZ4X, the first mass-produced all-electric SUV that has been on the market for less than two months abroad.

However, the reason given by Toyota is not the rumored charging failure, but the wheel of the bZ4X: "Due to its repeated sharp turns, emergency braking, etc., the wheel hub bolts of the tires may be loose. In this state If you continue to drive, there may be abnormal noises, and in severe cases, there may be a risk of the tires falling off."

Given the bZ4X's relatively short time to market, Toyota did not disclose the size of the recall.

According to the Financial Times, around 2,700 bZ4Xs are affected by the recall.Of these, there are about 2,200 in Europe, 280 in North America, 110 in Japan, and 60 in the rest of Asia.

Fortunately, most of the recalled vehicles have not yet been delivered to customers.

At the same time, in mainland China, the bZ4X model has not yet started production and sales, so the recall does not involve the Chinese market.

In addition, the day before Toyota announced the recall, Toyota lowered its globalproduction forecastfor July. It expects to produce 800,000 vehicles in July, 50,000 less than the previous estimate. This is also expected to affect the production of models such as the bZ4X.

Toyota noted that it is still investigating the cause of the bZ4X defect, although it has urged owners who have already received an all-electric SUV to not drive an electric vehicleuntil the problem is fixed.

To date, no injuries or incidents related to the recall have been reported.

"We're looking at whether tightening the bolts will solve the problem, or if any changes to the components are required," Toyota noted.

The bZ4X is expected to be a vehicle that has the potential to pave the way for Toyota's EV efforts.Toyota has been relatively slow on the all-electric car track, but it has pledged to invest $35 billion to roll out 30 battery-electric vehicles by 2030.

The launch of the bZ4X can be seen as a test case for Toyota's EV strategy.

In terms of positioning, Toyota has always regarded the bZ4X as a car to challenge market leaders such as Tesla Model Y.

While its supposed rival, the Model Y, has also gone through several recalls over the past few months, most of them are software-based and can be fixed with an OTA upgrade.

But the bZ4X involved a hardware failure this time, which obviously had a blow to morale.

For Toyota, although it has released an ambitious electric plan to sell 3.5 million battery-powered vehicles a year by 2030, Toyoda has also insisted that electric vehicles should not make a big leap, while he emphasized the use of different solutions (such as hybrid engines and hydrogen-powered vehicles) for sustainable transport.

But apparently Toyoda's view is under more and more pressure.

Not long ago, more than 10,000 Toyota owners signed a petition signed by 110,044 people protesting Toyota and urging it to speed upelectrificationand stop obsessing about fossil fuels.

The report said these people were dissatisfied with Toyota's efforts to develop new energy vehicles, saying that Toyota's plan to convert 14% of new vehicles to electrified models by the end of 2030 violated the Paris Agreement.

The pre-sale price of bZ4X is 220,000~300,000 yuan, and the cruising range is 400~615 kilometers. In the current electric vehicle market, there are many competitors, and inthe context of the continuous rise of electricvehicle salesin China, the disruption of the rhythm of listing is undoubtedly for Toyota. It was a setback.