Toyota launches the Ranz brand at the Shanghai Auto Show
Ranz is a new sub-brand of the FAW-Toyota joint venture, aimed at making cheap electric cars for the masses. The Chinese name for Ranz is Shi Lang, which means ‘Bright Life’. The brand was officially launched in March but was yet without a car. That changed at the Shanghai Auto Show were the ‘Ranz’ debuted. Not the Ranz Something, just the Ranz.
This first Ranz is a EV, note happy green EV stickers, and based on the Toyota Corolla EX sedan, which is made in China by FAW-Toyota. Toyota has released very little information about the car. Toyota says it is electric powered. Toyota says it has zero emissions. Toyota didn’t say when the Ranz Ranz will be launched on the Chinese car market, and for how much.
Toyota’s Chinese designers added some extra chrome to the back. Rear lights are kinda cool.
EV stickers very 2002. Sub-brands like Ranz only exist to make the Chinese government happy, the government insists on more ‘technology transfer’ from the foreign partners to the Chinese partners. Sure the foreign partners don’t want that so sub-brands like this usually get the oldest platforms and the crappiest electric drivetrains. The actual electric cars seldom make it to the mass market. A petrol powered variant usually does. So in about a year or so there will be some Ranz EV’s doing a demonstration project in a suburb, and a cheap petrol-powered Ranz that people can buy.
