Tag Archives: SUVs

News

Toyota’s Mystery Three-Row EV Is Almost Here

Toyota’s slow-burn teaser campaign just took a sharp turn toward the real world. The company has finally dropped its first official photo and video of its upcoming SUV—and confirmed that the full reveal lands February 10. After months of speculation, patent sleuthing, and corporate breadcrumbs, we now have something resembling a shape. And that shape is unmistakably large.

Everything we’re seeing points to a three-row electric SUV, a long-promised piece of Toyota’s EV puzzle that now appears to be ready for primetime. The interior shots give the game away: a second row with captain’s chairs suggests either a six- or seven-seat layout, and the sheer amount of glass—thanks to a panoramic sunroof—makes this thing feel more family road-trip than futuristic pod.

Toyota’s designers haven’t been asleep at the wheel, either. A full digital gauge cluster sits ahead of the driver, while a big tablet-style infotainment screen dominates the center stack. USB ports tucked into the bases of the C-pillars hint at a vehicle that expects rear-seat passengers to be as plugged in as the powertrain. In other words, this is a modern, tech-forward hauler designed for people who actually use the third row.

But the real story is what this SUV is, not just what it looks like.

Back in 2021, Toyota showed off the bZ Large SUV concept—then called the bZ5X—a three-row EV that was supposed to be part of a massive 15-vehicle electric blitz. Since then, Toyota has quietly stepped back from the awkward “bZ” branding while reshuffling its EV strategy, but one thing has remained consistent: a big, U.S.-built, three-row electric SUV was always coming.

And this sure looks like it.

Patent images we uncovered earlier, especially of the concept’s rear end, line up eerily well with what Toyota just teased. The proportions, the body creases, and that wide rear light bar all match. Even the window shape—with its distinctive triangular base at the front—lines up with the filings. If this isn’t the production version of the bZ Large SUV, then Toyota has pulled off one of the most convincing misdirects in recent memory.

What Toyota hasn’t told us yet is the name—and that’s where things get spicy.

While industry insiders have been calling this thing the bZ5X for years, Toyota’s growing discomfort with the “bZ” label suggests something more familiar might be in the works. Enter Highlander.

Toyota already builds a wildly successful three-row crossover in the Grand Highlander, which absolutely crushed its shorter sibling last year. The standard Highlander’s sales fell more than 37 percent to just over 56,000 units, while the Grand Highlander surged nearly 91 percent to almost 137,000. That kind of split practically begs for a rethink—and electrifying the regular Highlander would be one way to do it.

An electric Highlander—or even something like a “bZ Highlander”—would make a lot of sense. Ford proved with the Mustang Mach-E that familiar nameplates can smooth the transition to electric, even when the vehicle underneath is something entirely new. Customers trust the Highlander name, and Toyota would be wise to lean on that goodwill as it tries to get conservative buyers comfortable with plugging in.

We already know this SUV will be built in Kentucky with batteries sourced from Toyota’s North Carolina facility, and production is expected to begin in the first half of 2026. The reveal next week in California should finally lock in the name, the specs, and just how serious Toyota is about re-entering the EV race it once helped invent—and then strangely abandoned.

So call it the bZ5X, the Grand Crown, or the Electric Highlander. What matters is that Toyota’s long-teased three-row EV is real, it’s coming, and it’s about to become one of the most important vehicles the company has launched in a decade.

And in a market where big electric family haulers are still thin on the ground, Toyota just showed up to the fight with something that actually looks ready to sell.

Source: Toyota

News

Dacia Turns Its SUVs into a Budget Observatory on Wheels

Leave it to Dacia to look at the booming overlanding craze, shrug at the six-figure expedition rigs clogging Instagram, and say: What if camping was just… simple? The Romanian brand’s latest idea, charmingly dubbed the “Million Star Hotel,” is less about rooftop tents and titanium cookware and more about sleeping inside your car while the universe puts on a show overhead.

The concept centers on Dacia’s biggest SUV yet, the Bigster, a 4.57-meter-long slab of practical ambition that finally offers enough interior real estate to make car camping feel intentional rather than desperate. The star of the show—literally and figuratively—is the factory-designed Sleep Pack, an optional setup that turns the Bigster’s cargo area into a two-person bedroom with a view of the cosmos.

The Sleep Pack isn’t exclusive to the Bigster; it also fits the Duster and Jogger, reinforcing Dacia’s talent for stretching one clever idea across an entire lineup. At its core is a 190-centimeter double mattress that unfolds across the boot floor and folded rear seats. When morning comes—or when you need your SUV back—the mattress detaches and tucks neatly into a bespoke wooden storage box.

Headroom is, predictably, snug. But the Bigster’s panoramic sunroof makes that a feature rather than a flaw. Instead of staring at headliner fabric, you fall asleep watching the stars wheel overhead, separated from deep space by a thin sheet of glass. The wooden base doubles as a small table, with storage compartments underneath for the essentials: flashlights, snacks, and whatever else you forgot to pack because you assumed “it’s just one night.”

Dacia’s big reveal happens February 25 and 26 in Scotland’s Galloway Forest Park, one of the UK’s officially designated dark-sky zones. Far from city glow and light pollution, guests will camp overnight beneath a rare celestial alignment. If the weather cooperates—and that’s always the fine print in Scotland—Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury will all be visible to the naked eye.

This isn’t just a lie-down-and-stargaze affair. Dacia is leaning into the outdoorsy fantasy with open-fire cooking, kayaking, and fishing. And while the Sleep Pack doesn’t magically add plumbing, the brand will provide on-site facilities, including a large communal tent with basic amenities. Think glamping-adjacent, minus the pretense.

Bookings for the “Million Star Hotel” are open until January 28 through a dedicated website, with spots allocated by lottery. Requirements are refreshingly straightforward: UK residency, a valid driver’s license, and ideally someone you don’t mind sharing a mattress with. Each vehicle sleeps two adults, so bringing a guest is encouraged.

For those who don’t win the stargazing sweepstakes—or who just want to turn their own Dacia into a weekend escape pod—the Sleep Pack is available to buy. The mattress and wooden box retail for £1,307. Add blackout curtains for £175 and a tent for £350, and the full InNature Camping Kit totals £1,830.

In classic Dacia fashion, it’s not luxurious, it’s not flashy, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. But in a world where “adventure” often comes with a luxury price tag, the idea of parking an affordable SUV in the middle of nowhere and watching the planets drift by feels refreshingly honest. Sometimes, the best hotel really does have a million stars—and no minibar.

Source: Dacia

NEW CARS

Afeela Confirms Electric SUV for 2028

If there was any doubt that Sony and Honda’s Afeela brand was serious about becoming a full-fledged EV player, that doubt evaporated under the bright lights of CES 2026. Fresh off launching its first production car—the Afeela 1 electric sedan—the joint venture has confirmed its next move: a fully electric SUV slated to hit U.S. roads in 2028.

Revealed as a prototype in Las Vegas, the yet-unnamed SUV is positioned as a direct response to premium electric family haulers like the Lucid Gravity, Rivian R1S, BMW iX, and Volvo EX90. And while it’s technically a new model, think of it less as a clean-sheet design and more as the Afeela 1 sedan… on stilts.

According to Afeela, the SUV “builds on the core concept” of the sedan while adding “greater spatial flexibility and accessibility”—corporate speak for we want more buyers. That makes sense. Sedans may still matter, but SUVs are where the volume (and profit margins) live, especially in the U.S.

Same Look, More Headroom

Design-wise, Afeela didn’t reinvent the wheel. The SUV retains the brand’s minimalist aesthetic: smooth surfacing, clean lines, and those distinctive wraparound light bars that look more consumer electronics than traditional automotive. The fastback-style rear roofline survives the transition to SUV form, giving the vehicle a sleeker profile than most boxy three-row rivals.

Dimensionally, it appears to mirror the sedan closely, likely stretching just under five meters in length with a wheelbase of slightly more than three meters. That puts it squarely in the midsize-to-large luxury EV SUV class—big enough to feel substantial, but not Escalade-big.

Honda Hardware, Sony Software

Under the skin, expect familiar hardware. The SUV is likely to ride on the same Honda-engineered platform as the Afeela 1, complete with a 91-kWh lithium-ion battery. Range should land around 300 miles, with DC fast-charging speeds up to 150 kW. Dual electric motors are expected to deliver a combined 482 horsepower—respectable, if not class-leading, in this segment.

Where Afeela continues to differentiate itself is tech. Honda may handle the engineering and manufacturing—production will again take place in Ohio—but Sony is responsible for the digital experience. That means a heavy emphasis on software, user interface, and sensor-driven systems.

The SUV will feature the same robotics-based posture control system designed to optimize ride comfort, along with Level 2-plus driver assistance. Inside, a highly customizable infotainment system will dominate the cabin, while the exterior retains Afeela’s signature “media bar” on the nose—a programmable light display that signals vehicle status and, presumably, your enthusiasm for futuristic design.

Premium Pricing, Patient Buyers Required

Don’t expect bargains. The Afeela 1 sedan starts at roughly $90,000, and the SUV is expected to push past the $100,000 mark. That pricing places it squarely against high-spec versions of the Lucid Gravity and Rivian R1S—two vehicles that already have a head start in both production and brand recognition.

Timing may be Afeela’s biggest challenge. While the SUV is planned for production in about two years, the sedan has yet to begin customer deliveries in California, with Arizona and Japan following later. Wider global availability, including Europe, isn’t expected before 2030—and there are currently no confirmed plans to sell either model there at all.

Still, the sedan shown at CES was a pre-production car pulled directly from the Ohio assembly line, suggesting Afeela is finally moving from concept-stage ambition to real-world execution.

The SUV, then, isn’t just a new body style—it’s a test of whether Sony and Honda can translate their combined expertise into something buyers actually want to live with. If they get it right, Afeela might become more than just CES spectacle. If not, it risks being another beautifully designed EV that arrived a little too late.

Either way, the electric SUV wars just got another serious contender.

Source: Autocar