Equipped with a new generation of Mirai fuel cell system, Toyota resurrects the "big overlord" Previa

In recent years, Toyota's performance in the fuel cell vehicle market has been somewhat unsatisfactory. Since the Mirai was launched, the market performance of this revolutionary fuel cell vehicle has stagnated. It has failed to break through 3,000 annual sales for several consecutive years. The highest sales record stayed at 2,689 units in 2017, and was updated in 2019. This is to hand over the world's number one sales position of fuel cell vehicles to Hyundai.

In order to further promote market development and regain its leadership position, Toyota announced the launch of the second-generation Mirai and also began to promote the fuel cell power system to more models to provide more details. Promote fuel cell vehicles in different markets.

According to the Japanese automotive media "best?car", Toyota has decided to resurrect the Previa model and add power options for hydrogen fuel cell systems to meet the growing demand for multi-person travel in the European market. The new Previa will be launched on the market in 2021.

Figure 1? Rendering of the new Previa on the Japanese car media

The new Previa that has been repeatedly frozen and restarted

Previa, known as "Previa" in China , commonly known as the "Big King", because of its unique bullet shape, it is also called the "Bullet" by domestic car enthusiasts, and the Japanese model is called "Estima".

Figure 2 Toyota Previa, also known as the "Big King" in China

When Previa was born in 1990, it was nicknamed "Genius" because of its stylish exterior design and middle layout ?Egg", and the name Previa comes from Italian, meaning God or vision. It is not difficult to see Toyota's expectations and affirmation of Previa.

Since the launch of the first model, the Previa car series has a history of 29 years and 5 months, and has launched three generations of models. During this period, Previa experienced many repeated freezes and restarts, and was announced to be officially discontinued in October 2019.

In just a few months, Previa was restarted again, and the power type of hydrogen fuel cell was added. It can be seen that Toyota has high hopes for Previa and hopes to open the fuel cell tourist vehicle market. .

According to Japanese media reports, the new Previa will be transplanted with the fuel cell system of the new generation Mirai. Since the second generation Mirai will be launched this year, the Previa is likely to be the first model to be transplanted with the Mirai system.

Did you choose the MPV type Previa because of the Japanese and European markets?

It is worth noting that the new Previa will not use Mirai’s platform. Whether Previa will use TNGA or a brand new car platform is really exciting. You must know that a large number of Toyota's MPV models have direct or indirect inheritance relationships with Previa. Domestic BYD has also imitated Previa and launched the M6 ??model. Previa's strong derivative capabilities are likely to accelerate the launch of subsequent fuel cell MPVs or station wagons. Toyota naturally took this into consideration when it chose Previa as the first transplantation product of its pilot model Mirai.

Toyota’s choice of Previa also had market considerations. China, North America, and Europe are the three largest automobile markets in the world. China prefers sedans and SUVs, the United States prefers pickup trucks and SUVs, Europe prefers hatchbacks and station wagons, and vans are popular in Japan.

The markets for vans and MPVs happen to be concentrated in Europe and Japan. In other words, Japan intends to seize European and Japanese knowledge and market share of fuel cell vehicles through Mirai+Previa and its derivative models. In terms of SUV models, Toyota is likely to avoid the edge of Hyundai NEXO for the time being in order to jointly promote the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market rather than form a direct confrontation.

As the saying goes, "Cooperation will benefit both sides, and conflict will hurt both." Japan, which is deeply influenced by Confucian culture, naturally understands this well.

On the other hand, from the perspective of vehicle use, station wagons and vans are often used for carrying cargo or long-distance travel, which happens to be the current shortcoming of pure electric vehicles. In this market segment, pure electric vehicles It is difficult for electric vehicles to compete with fuel cell vehicles. In the sedan market, Toyota's Mirai cannot compete with Tesla, at least for now.

For this reason, we may soon see Toyota's fuel cell pickup products.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.