Californians Can Lease A Toyota bZ4X For Less Than A Camry Hybrid

Photo: Toyota

When we first drove the oddly named Toyota bZ4X, we didn’t really have any major complaints, but at the same time, it didn’t exactly stand out in any notable ways, either. It was just an OK electric crossover that felt like something meant for Toyota diehards more than anyone else. If you want an electric Toyota crossover, the bZ4X is an electric Toyota crossover. And with a base price in the low-$40,000 range, that’s a lot of money for a car that might lose a wheel while you’re driving.

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But if you make something cheap enough, suddenly a middle-of-the-road option turns into a tempting purchase. In California, CarsDirect reports that you can now lease a bZ4X for less than the cost of a Toyota Camry Hybrid. Working with an MSRP of $43,835, the latest 36-month lease deal on the bZ4X is $389 a month with $4,999 due at signing. Meanwhile, a Camry Hybrid with an MSRP of $31,584 can be leased for $469 with $2,999 due at signing.

So even though the bZ4X starts more than $12,000 higher than the Camry Hybrid, your effective monthly payment on a 36-month lease would be $528 a month versus $552 a month for the Camry.

A big part of the reason for the lower lease price is the fact that even though the bZ4X doesn’t qualify for the more well-known federal tax credit, it is eligible for a $7,500 lease credit. Meanwhile, there are no incentives currently on the Camry Hybrid. Plus, it seems that Toyota desperately wants to move bZ4Xs as it hasn’t exactly been the fastest-selling vehicle in its lineup. We might have recommended making it stand out better against the competition, but we’re also not going to complain about Toyota making the bZ4X cheaper. That works, too.