The Toyota Group held a press conference on December 14, 2021, unveiling the future global electric vehicle strategy of the Toyota and Lexus brands, while showcasing up to 16 all-electric models. The most notable of these are the Lexus RZ 450e pure electric crossover SUV and the Lexus Electrified Sport pure electric supercar. The former is expected to appear in 2022, while the latter is still some distance away from mass production, but the original factory claims that it inherits the spirit of the development of the legendary V10 sports car LFA, so it is also expected.
Built on the e-TNGA pure electric platform, the Lexus RZ 450e is expected to be available in 2022
The publication of the RZ 450e is arguably close at hand. First of all, the car name has been registered as a continuation trademark in Europe, North America and other markets; in addition, the continuation of Lexus' previous preview, some prototypes of the RZ 450e were finally exposed on the day of the electric vehicle strategy press conference. Since the RZ 450e is based on Toyota Group's latest e-TNGA pure electric chassis platform, its body size should be approximately between those of Toyota's newly released bZ4X; that is, it will overlap with Lexus' current NX crossover SUV lineup.
Given that the new generation of NX was released in June 2021, it will be worth observing how Lexus operates the product separation between RZ and NX after the RZ is published in 2022. If it is only based on fuel power and pure electric power, then the existence of the next generation of NX is also quite curious while the brand and group are moving towards pure electrification.
According to the photos released by the official, the RZ 450e inherits the design characteristics of the new generation of Lexus, and the word "Direct4" on the rear of the car reveals that the RZ 450e will use a four-wheel drive configuration. Although the official has not yet disclosed the technical details of direct4, Pascal Ruch, vice president of Lexus Europe, revealed in an interview with the British media Autocar that Direct4 will be Lexus' unique full-time variable four-wheel drive system, and will be combined with a wire transmission system to enhance the driving experience.
Inheriting the spirit of LFA development, the future of pure electric supercar, Lexus Electrified Sport
Compared with the RZ 450e, the advent of Lexus Electrified Sport seems to be some distance away; however, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said at a press conference that "Lexus will develop a next-generation Lexus Electrified Sport that inherits the LFA driving experience".
Since only the exterior photos of Lexus Electrified Sport have been released officially, its interior design is still unknown, and there is still a distance from mass production, so it is not difficult to estimate that the production version may still be different from the photos released this time. However, the official performance of the Lexus Electrified Sport has been made public, that is, it will have the ability to accelerate from stationary to 100 kilometers per hour and have a maximum endurance of 700 kilometers in the beginning of 2 seconds. Such accelerations can already be compared with the fastest accelerating competitors today, such as the Rimac Nevera and Tesla Model S Plaid.