As one of the world's leading automakers, Toyota has not been interested in electric vehicles, and its head, Akio Toyoda, has repeatedly said that "pure electric vehicles are not environmentally friendly."
(He laughs like a kid in a tanker x2)
However, in the middle of December this year, the painting style suddenly changed, Zhang Nan stood in front of 16 new pure electric vehicles, and officially announced the group's comprehensive electrification strategy. It is its luxury brand Lexus that drinks "head soup".
Zhang Nan said that by 2030, all lexus models will provide pure electric versions, achieve 100% pure electric model sales in China, North America and Europe, and achieve 100% global sales of pure electric models by 2035. But the full electrification of the brand is not a one-touch thing, so the first step of Lexus is to cover all the series of oil-electric hybrid systems, and gradually introduce plug-in hybrid, or even pure electric versions.
At this year's Guangzhou Auto Show, the new NX family was officially launched, and the new car was divided into three versions from the power of 260 (fuel), 350h (oil-electric hybrid) and 400h+ (plug-in hybrid), and the 400h+ was the first plug-in hybrid model of Lexus.
Reacquaint yourself with NX
The new generation of NX is based on the TNGA-K architecture, and the models with the same architecture include the familiar Toyota RAV4 and the Harrier positioned between the RAV4 Rongfang and the Crown Land Amplifier.
First of all, the size, the new car length / width / height are 4660/1865/ 1660mm, the wheelbase is 2690mm, from the data alone is a full circle larger than the current model, especially the elongation of the wheelbase makes the rear legroom become larger, of course, the space part is waiting for the next time.
In terms of appearance, the new NX changed the style of the previous generation, and the previous angular and enthusiastic lines were gone, replaced by a relatively simple and stable design, especially on the side, and the iconic upper and lower double waist line became a "single waist line + large curved" shape. Of course, whether it is old or new, this door is definitely a nightmare for sheet metal masters.
Lexus is the most recognizable place, naturally to say the front face, the new NX grille shape has obviously converged a lot, the interior is a three-dimensional three-dimensional spindle design, it looks more exquisite than the previous generation, in addition to the new car's headlights have also been redesigned, "check" type LED daytime lights are still retained. But to be honest, I think the previous set of front faces is good-looking, and now it looks a bit cute, maybe Zhang Nan also wants to make Lexus more low-key?
The rear of the car uses a spindle shape, gradually narrowing from the rear fenders on both sides towards the central area, and with the popular through-the-tail lights, it is full of layering. Because the wheel eyebrows have exaggerated bulges, it looks like a self-stretching body effect from the rear of the car, and it is full of a woman with full hips + A4 waist, which makes people addicted. If the front of the car is designed to give 75 points, then the rear of the car is definitely worth 85 points.
Inside the car, I could see that everything was new except for the "L-mark," including a large (14-inch top) touch screen, TNGA's signature center-mounted armrest, and the dark/rose red double-colored seat. According to official accounts, the interior is inherited from the Tazuna rein concept cockpit of the electrified concept car LF-30 and LF-Z, and the armrest in the middle can divide the space into driving and riding closed areas, providing a relatively closed (sensory) space for drivers and passengers.
Some of the design details of this interior are quite interesting, and I will share them with you.
1) The hybrid mode button is placed on the left side of the gear, which is very convenient to press, but this panel adopts the piano paint process, which is easier to leave fingerprints. The power mode switching knob is placed in the corner of the central control "L-shaped armrest", and the new car supports ECO, SPORT, and NORMAL power output.
2) The 400h+ Changyue version is equipped with a 9.8-inch central control screen, and the screen size of the Changle edition has been upgraded to 14 inches, which is also the largest central control screen ever for Lexus. The carriage has built-in multimedia functions such as maps and music, and also supports CarPlay and CarLife, and the smoothness of the experience is also quite good.
3) The air conditioner temperature knob and volume knob are placed under the central control screen, in fact, it is very simple to integrate these things into the screen (and save cost), but Toyota insists on doing physical buttons for safety, after all, while driving, touching the screen is very dangerous. In addition, physical buttons, including automatic parking and reversing images, are placed on the side close to the driver, and the touch is particularly easy.
I've always thought that the era of smart cars is an era without ergonomics, after all, there are countless examples of shit-like interactions for higher integration (all buttons are integrated into the screen), but after sitting on the new NX this time, I found that the original "intelligence" and "ergonomics" can be combined so well. All the buttons in the car are very easy to use, and there is no need to re-adapt, which is not much different from a traditional car. The key is that its degree of intelligence is also quite high, and the automatic parking DEMO was demonstrated on the spot, which is not inferior to the new power model in terms of parking speed and effect.
4) The new NX uses an electronically controlled door, and this doorknob is also linked with the blind spot monitoring function, if the vehicle detects that there are pedestrians, vehicles, and bicycles passing behind, then you cannot open the door according to the electronic door handle, of course, if you really want to open the door, then double-click on it.
5) The new car is equipped with 64 colors of cockpit mood lights, of which 14 are theme colors from nature, Lexus believes that this is a big selling point, but how many people often adjust these atmosphere lights.... Maybe I am a straight man of steel who does not know fun.
Next up is the space and the power part that everyone cares about most
1) Thanks to the extension of the wheelbase, the rear legroom of the new NX is obviously much larger than the current model, but the head space is a bit shrunken. Overall, the new NX sits up a lot more spacious than the old one.
(7kW household charging pile included with the car)
2) 400h+ equipped with 18.12kWh ternary lithium battery, large battery tile bottom. WLTP pure electric cruising range up to 76km. The 350h battery is placed below the rear row, and the battery type is also a ternary lithium battery.
3) The hybrid system is still Toyota's second-generation THS, but the power has been greatly improved compared with the previous generation, such as the same 2.5L + ECVT model, the new model (350h) has been able to achieve 175kW power output, the old model (300h) only 145kW; the top 400h+ is 195kW. The old NX200 and NX300 were cancelled, and the new fuel version only had NX260, which adopted a combination of 2.5L+8AT and an output power of 151kW.
4) At present, 400h+ only has a front-drive (single motor) version, which is to achieve a longer cruising range. The on-site staff said that there is no plan to launch a four-wheel drive version in the future. Interestingly, the current 400h+ orders have been scheduled until June next year, when I thought that it was so expensive that no one bought it, people had already sold out.
Most of the new NX orders are concentrated in the NX260 and 350h versions, and the NX260 has the most. The on-site sales said that at present, many people are still very resistant to the "electricity" thing, even if it is a small battery HEV model does not want to buy...
From this point of view, Lexus is going to transform into a pure electric luxury brand, and Toyota has a lot of courage.
The market needs a hybrid car even more
In the past hundred years, in order to obtain rapid development, human society has long been accustomed to obtaining energy from fossil energy sources such as oil and coal, and the greenhouse gases generated from them have become the culprits of global warming.
A 1.6L displacement car, a year to emit 2.7 tons of carbon, according to each tree can absorb 0.11 tons of carbon dioxide calculation, each year need to plant 24 trees to offset, so electrification has become a "compulsory course" for car companies. However, for Toyota, electrification includes three technical lines: pure electric (BEV), hybrid (PHEV, HEV) and hydrogen energy (FCEV).
"Electric cars are not as environmentally friendly as imagined, and gasoline vehicles are not as environmentally friendly as imagined."
I've heard this more than once at the event. Some survey agencies have calculated the carbon emission data of the life cycle of various types of cars, and the results show that the carbon emissions of the current BEV models are only slightly ahead of gasoline vehicles, and the reason is that the battery production and power production processes are not decarbonized. In addition, how to deal with waste batteries is also a rather tricky thing.
It is estimated that this is also the reason why Toyota has always been uninterested in BEVs and has further studied hybrid technology.
"What the market needs, Toyota makes"
As a large car company, Toyota wants to push down the internal combustion engine and hybrid technology, and all in BEV is also impossible, after all, the current market actually needs a hybrid car.
I don't know if you have found that in recent years, more and more independent brands have begun to focus on the research and development of hybrid technology. Like BYD DM-i, Great Wall Lemon Hybrid/Tank Hybrid, Chery Kunpeng Hybrid, Geely Raytheon Hybrid, GAC G-MC, etc., and many new car-making forces that lack technical accumulation also take range extenders as the preferred technical route.
The advantages of BEV, large battery HEV/PHEV are also available, and there is no charging anxiety. This technology, which combines convenience and environmental protection, is naturally favored by the market.
"How to build a low-carbon society" has never been a single choice, and BEV is just one of the options.