SUV sales just came out in March this year, and the Tesla Model Y won the first place with a single monthly sales of nearly 40,000 units, leading the second place by more than 10,000 units. I have to say that Tesla, which was once regarded as a "catfish" by everyone, not only successfully caused the "jealousy" of all luxury brands, but also forced them to go down and participate in the competition of pure electric cars, including Lexus.
Just a few days ago, Lexus released its new electric car, the Lexus RZ, which will also be the first of its kind in the future Lexus electric series. So the question is, BBA pure electric SUV can not effectively block the Model Y, the later Lexus RZ has the strength to fight?
New car with a special-shaped steering wheel? More eye-catching than the minimalist interior of the Model Y
Tesla Model Y is undoubtedly the hottest medium-sized pure electric SUV at the moment, although from the design point of view, the closed front face shape is still a bit strange, but the full body, the back of the car and the 4750mm length, 2890mm wheelbase, still have a good avant-garde fashion sense.
Lexus RZ as a brand of new electric vehicles, is the first model of e-TNGA architecture, the design has a lot of previous Lexus LF-Z Electrified concept car shadow, but from the front grille shape, "arrow-shaped" daytime lights, sharp waist line and slip back shape, it can be clearly seen that the new car has a strong family characteristics. In addition, the Lexus RZ's 4805/1895/1635mm length, width and height dimensions, as well as the 2850mm wheelbase, are also close to the Model Y, and it is believed that it will become one of the main opponents of the same class in the future.
Compared to the difference in appearance, the cockpits of the two cars are completely different styles. The model Y minimalist interior that we are familiar with is still the main feature, it may look a little simple, the workmanship and materials are also very general, but after watching it, it feels actually very good, visually very relaxed, just like entering a new home that has been renovated but has not been occupied, it is not messy at all.
The biggest highlight of the interior design of Lexus RZ is the use of an unconventional steering wheel, but I don't know whether it complies with domestic regulations, so whether it can appear on mass production models in the future is also an unknown for the time being, but from the design point of view, it is eye-catching enough. In addition, the interior is more ordinary in other places, using a 14-inch central control screen and a full LCD meter, supporting mobile phone mapping, interconnection, OTA functions, lacking the luxury of Lexus's previous products, of course, if from a sports point of view is in line. It is worth mentioning that the Lexus RZ not only adopts the popular knob shift, but also the door opening method is the same as the new Lexus NX, which is a button-type door opening mechanism, which has a certain novelty.
In terms of intelligence that can best reflect the identity of pure electric cars, Model Y can be said to be the only one in the same level, relying on a 15-inch screen can solve all things, and Model Y is equipped with AMD Ryzen™ processors, the smoothness of the car system has been greatly improved, coupled with self-developed FSD processors, highly intelligent driver assistance systems, and even in the later stage through OTA to complete a number of upgrades including unlocking "power", which is absolutely attractive to young people.
In-line steering wheel and 4-second acceleration, which do you prefer?
In terms of driving control, people's impression of model Y feels very split, the vehicle has a very strong power performance, high-performance four-wheel drive version has a maximum of 357kW of integrated motor power, zero hundred acceleration time is less than 5 seconds, can be comparable to supercar, which is also one of tesla's most important advantages. It's just that everyone has a lot of slots for its driving control, most people think that the model Y's steering feel is heavy, the feedback force is not strong, the direction of play is very sticky, coupled with the vehicle's more peculiar throttle pedal setting, that is, the single pedal mode with strong feedback strength, and can not be closed, many young friends are not used to getting started for the first time.
In contrast, although the Lexus RZ power data is not as good as the Model Y, the "450e" model front and rear dual motor four-wheel drive (front motor 150kW, rear motor 80kW) zero hundred acceleration takes 5.6 seconds, the cruising range of about 500 kilometers, but its power output is very linear, abundant, that is, although the power is not as strong as the Model Y, but the experience is better.
In terms of more important driving control configuration, the Lexus RZ is equipped with a steer-by-wire system, and for this system, regulations have only just been opened at the beginning of this year. Compared with electronic power steering, steer-by-wire cancels the physical connection between the steering wheel and the steering wheel, the main purpose is to isolate the road bumps and unwanted road information, according to the needs to give appropriate feedback, in addition, the steering wheel angle and steering torque can be independently adjusted by the ECU, to adapt to the requirements of different types of drivers for driving feel.
Correspondingly, after this function lands on the irregular steering wheel of the Lexus RZ, the steering angle of the steering wheel is only positive and minus 150 degrees, that is, there is no need to play a lap and a half or more directional operations, which can complete the full wheel, and such a steering ratio is generally only used by F1 racing cars, which can greatly improve the driving control strength of the vehicle.
At the same time, the DIRECT4 electronic dynamic four-wheel drive system equipped with Lexus RZ is also a highlight, the system will automatically control the front and rear wheel drive force (the ratio is between 0:100 and 100:0) according to the collected vehicle wheel speed, acceleration pedal and other information, so this electronic four-wheel drive system with a series of sports equipment such as steer-by-wire steering will undoubtedly bring a very good driving experience.
It is worth mentioning that the steer-by-wire can not only improve the driving control ability of the vehicle, but also greatly help the iterative upgrading of the future automatic driving technology, because in the automatic driving state above the L3 level, the vehicle does not need the driver to take over, without the mechanical steering column, the electronic control can directly take over the vehicle, and the decoupled steering wheel can be completely contracted, providing more intelligent space for the car, of course, all this must be fully opened by various regulations.
epilogue:
Tesla's success is inseparable from its achievements in intelligence and "automatic driving", which has brought a new travel experience, and the price decline after domestic production and the recent release of production capacity have also allowed Model Y to sell well in recent times. Therefore, for the upcoming Lexus RZ, there are considerable challenges, and more importantly, the identity of the imported car dooms the Lexus RZ to not be cheap in the future. Of course, taking sports as a breakthrough, taking the steer-by-wire, DIRECT4 electronic dynamic four-wheel drive system, with an irregular steering wheel, etc., plus the brand itself, it does have a certain premium ability, but if you want to win the Model Y in the younger pure electric SUV market, or stand firm, it is still not small.