Although the Beijing Auto Show has been postponed, the bustle of the auto market has arrived as promised.
Taking the German luxury top three BBA as an example, Mercedes-Benz brought a large pure electric luxury model EQS SUV, Audi brought a urbansphere concept car co-created with users, and BMW's new generation 7 series/i7 was launched worldwide.
In the matter of the new product release, the second-tier luxury brand Lexus is far less high-profile than the BBA. The release of its first electric model, the Lexus RZ, has also been snatched up by BMW's "big nostrils" and "squinting eyes" in China. Although the popularity of the release has been intercepted, with its brand influence and unique styling design, it still attracts many consumers to watch.
The Lexus RZ is positioned as a pure electric compact SUV, based on the Toyota e-TNGA pure electric architecture platform shared by Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Soltera. Compared with the UX 300e, a pure electric model currently on sale in Lexus, it is undoubtedly the difference between the regular army and the miscellaneous army, which only needs to test the market reaction and complete the task. The Lexus RZ, which comes from a different background, obviously needs to shoulder the responsibility of Lexus' promotion in this round of luxury electric competition.
I just don't know whether the arrival of lexus RZ can continue to achieve the goal of "making a fortune in the field of new energy".
The production version of the Lexus RZ is actually not much different from the concept car LF-Z Electrified Concept. The exterior design adopts the latest family design language, and the iconic "spindle"grille design has been changed to a closed panel, with an angular LED headlight group on both sides, which is very combative. And this design with strong family elements, even if it blocks the LOGO, can easily identify this is a Lexus model.
The outline of a large number of sharp lines on the side of the body makes it full of American muscles. The smooth suspension roof and slightly cocked ducktail, coupled with the sinking of the body's center of gravity, create an atmosphere ready to go. The rear of the car adopts a design style that highlights the hard school, and the taillights are a popular through-through design, which brings a good sense of layering as a whole.
In fact, it is not difficult to see that the overall shape of the Lexus RZ has many similarities with the Toyota bZ4X, and in order to distinguish it from the latter, the RZ deliberately uses a large number of hard lines to outline. However, it is also limited to a certain "micro-rectification" in the appearance value. The three circumferences of the RZ are 4805/1895/1635mm, and the wheelbase is 2850mm, perhaps due to the same platform, the body size and bZ4X are highly consistent.
The car does not bring too much sense of surprise, the material design is relatively single, the center console design and the fuel car style are much the same, but the wide black border around the embedded central control screen makes it look a little conservative and dull overall.
The only thing that can be taken in the interior is the alien steering wheel. This kind of steering wheel similar to the design of the car seems to be seen on Tesla's flagship sedan Model S. Although it has a bit of a unique taste, it is not an isolated case. Thanks to this design of the steering wheel cut in half, it is convenient for users to navigate the dashboard information, and the legroom is also expanded.
As for the "playing the steering wheel" problem that everyone is more concerned about, Lexus also gave a solution. The RZ's profile steering wheel uses a steer-by-wire system with no mechanical backup. In general, a circular steering wheel needs to turn two or three times to die, and this steering wheel only takes less than half a turn (plus or minus 150 degrees) to complete. Although the problem of steering laps is solved, due to the too sensitive steering, it is easy to have accidents due to habits in the handling. However, this concern is believed that Lexus will also take into account, and wait and say.
In terms of power, after seeing the electric model that is accustomed to being good at performance and endurance, and then looking at the Lexus RZ, it can only be said that the overall performance is decent. The RZ 450e features a front and rear dual motor layout with a maximum power of 150 kW front and 80 kW rear and is equipped with a DIRECT 4 all-wheel drive system. In terms of battery life, it is equipped with a battery pack with a capacity of 71.4kWh, and the endurance of J-WLTC can reach 450km under working conditions. This kind of endurance performance, placed in the domestic 500km + electric model, obviously not much attraction.
Under the baptism of the new energy wave, the days when Lexus once "made a fortune in a muffled voice" in China will no longer exist. The new forces of car manufacturing and the "curve overtaking" of traditional car companies allow consumers to choose high-end models, which is no longer limited to BBA and a number of second-tier luxury brands. The transformation of the high-end luxury market has made many car companies feel a sense of crisis, and many new energy models have been launched to try to reproduce the brand power of the fuel market in the new energy market.
Unfortunately, times have changed, and people's consumption concepts are no longer what they used to be. Those "oil to electricity" with famous brand LOGOs, as well as new energy models with lackluster product strength, have long ceased to be popular. Although Lexus RZ is from the pure electric architecture platform, it does not have too many bright spots from the perspective of the product strength of the current performance. If there are no additional surprises in the future in terms of products, and you want to continue the market strategy of "high price increase", it is undoubtedly digging your own grave.
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