We've known for a while that Toyota has more electric vehicles coming, as evidenced by the Japanese automaker trademarking various names ranging from bZ1 to bZ5 and bZ1X to bZ5X. Now, the bZ Forums has caught Toyota filing for four more names: bZ1C, bZ2C, bZ3C, and bZ4C. This is the first time Toyota has added the letter C to the end of its Beyond Zero nomenclature.

So what exactly does that C stand for? We know that models with no letter at the end are intended for sedans, like the Chinese market bZ3. Models with the X suffix are crossovers, like the 2023 Toyota bZ4X. Is there a chance C stands for coupe?

Toyota teased 16 EV concepts back in 2021, which included several sports cars and coupes. We assumed these cars would bring back familiar names like Celica or MR2, but there's a chance they could follow the bZ naming scheme. It's equally likely that C could stand for crossover coupe like the bZ Compact SUV Concept (pictured below), revealed at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show. It seems likely that the concept would be called the bZ3X when it reaches production, but these new trademarks throw a wrinkle to that assumption.

Perhaps Toyota will also trademark bZ names ending in T and V for trucks and vans to further protect them for future use. Of course, by the time electrification represents more than half of the company's sales, we'd like to see Toyota move back to more memorable names like RAV4, Camry, and Tacoma.

The filings themselves don't provide any additional context, as all four are filed under Goods and Service for "Power machinery and equipment for land vehicles (excluding parts thereof), power transmission devices (Machine Elements for Land Vehicles), Braking Systems (Machine Elements for Land Vehicles), AC or DC Motors for Land Vehicles (excluding Parts Thereof), Automobiles and Parts and Accessories thereof, [and] Motorcycles."

All of this news is purely speculative now, but we will look out for any new vehicles or production-ready concepts from Toyota.