- The refreshed and renamed 2026 Toyota bZ electric crossover is a decent car, but it’s not what I’d call exciting.
- But beneath the benign shape, there’s a lot of potential, as Toyota’s Motorsports Technical Center discovered.
- Built for this year’s SEMA show, the one-off racing EV got a widebody kit, lower suspension and a power bump.
Toyota’s first proper electric car, the bZ4X crossover, was a bit of a letdown. Even Toyota knows it, which is why the EV got a big upgrade for the 2026 model year, giving it a new name, more power and more range.
The refreshed bZ is now a perfectly decent EV, though it’s not going to get your heart racing. But Toyota, with its vast motorsport experience, knows that a bit of weight reduction, a stiffer suspension and a little power bump can make a big difference.
Photo by: Toyota
The result? The Toyota bZ Time Attack, the Japanese automaker’s first-ever battery-electric SEMA concept built. It’s a purpose-built electric crossover engineered to tackle both time attack circuits and hill climbs. And by the looks of it, it’s anything but boring.
First, the powertrain. The standard 2026 bZ with all-wheel drive makes 338 horsepower and can sprint from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds. Not bad, not terrible. The souped-up racer, however, can put down over 400 hp from the same pair of electric motors, but with bespoke ECU calibration.
Inside, the only thing that’s the same as on the stock car is a set of buttons. Everything else has been ripped out in the name of weight reduction, with a pair of bucket seats catering to the behinds of the driver and co-driver. There’s also a full FIA-spec 4130 chromoly cage that stiffens the chassis and protects the people inside in case of a rollover.
The large fender arches were 3D printed to scale, while the rest of the widebody kit was made using laser scanning and CAD development, with an extremely quick turnaround. After everything is said and done, the car sits six inches lower and is six inches wider than the stock bZ.
10
Source: Toyota
Under the skin, the go-fast EV sports a set of TEIN coilovers and springs, which make sure the car’s 19-inch wheels shod in Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02 tires stay glued to the ground. Stopping power is provided by an Alcon system with Hawk pads borrowed from Toyota’s 86 Cup and Corolla TC race cars.
It’s all proper racing stuff, and Toyota seems keen on putting the hardcore bZ through its paces on real circuits. Despite being a concept, the automaker said the bZ Time Attack is “a rolling test bed for the next generation of EV motorsport development.” That sounds exciting, minus the… sound.
