Something Borrowed - Toyota Adopts GM’s Electric Vehicle Catch Phrase

Back in 2019, GM told us its “electric future is now.” This week Toyota said nearly that exact same thing about its new EV.

When Mark Reuss announced back on January 27, 2020 that GM’s “Electric Future Is Now,” things were looking very rosy for the automaker known primarily for trucks and sports cars. The Chevy Bolt was following the successful Chevy Volt in the GM line, there were hints of an electric Silverado coming soon, and maybe even reviving the Hummer brand as an EV. Even Cadillac was electrifying its cars. The "electric future is now" has a great ring to it.

This week, Toyota “launched” its new bZ4X SUV Battery-Electric Vehicle. This is the first BEV in almost a decade from Toyota, the company that previously built the first - two - battery-electric crossovers, both of them being RAV4 EVs.

When Toyota created its press release this week, it titled it, “The Future is Now: Toyota Launches All-New bZ4X SUV Battery-Electric Vehicle.”

Toyota hopes to shed its (undeserved) reputation for dragging its feet on electrified vehicles by bringing the bZ4X to market. It is the first in what is planned to be a series of electric vehicles from Toyota that will be rolled out over the next decade. Just like GM has such plans. And every other automaker. Since our central government (based in California) is demanding it.

We hope Toyota won’t mind our pointing out the similarity to the prior GM catchphrase. And even more importantly, we wish Toyota much greater success with its battery-electric vehicle plans. As far as we can calculate, GM took back more BEVs last quarter than it delivered.

Tell us if you think the “Future is now” is a good EV campaign catchphrase. Our comments section is easy to use and we promise not to spam you.

Top of Page image by Steve Fecht courtesy of General Motors Media Support.

John Goreham is a long-time New England Motor Press Association member and recovering engineer. John's interest in EVs goes back to 1990 when he designed the thermal control system for an EV battery as part of an academic team. After earning his mechanical engineering degree, John completed a marketing program at Northeastern University and worked with automotive component manufacturers, in the semiconductor industry, and in biotech. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American news outlets and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on TikTok @ToknCars, on Twitter, and view his credentials at Linkedin

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