On April 20, Lexus's first electric vehicle RZ was officially released, and Lexus set up two flags of "all models in 2030 provide pure electric versions" and "2035 fuel vehicle clearance", which is another announcement of Lexus after the Toyota electrification strategy conference at the end of last year.
We all saw the determination, but Lexus, who came later than others, wanted to be "late and reasonable", and had to explain a clear question: why fully electrified?
Many people may say that Lexus was forced to be a follower by the wave of electrification, which seems to be the most reasonable judgment for a "latecomer".
Before the test drive of the RZ car, the author basically held a similar view, but after driving the RZ, I found that the original Lexus was not following electrification, but using electrification, using electrification to do one thing, doing something that no one in the era of fuel vehicles did.
Just the weekend before the press conference, Lexus took several turns to bring the world's only RZ that could meet the media to Beijing, and for its debut in front of the Chinese media, Lexus chartered the entire Golden Harbor track. On this day, in addition to "receiving" several first-time media, the "only" RZ also had to meet with investors and even Lexus' own bosses.
Lexus took such a valuable RZ to the track, and also found a number of competitive cars to compete with it, such a very "non-Lexus" operation really confused the author. However, all the doubts were finally solved the moment the RZ was put on the track.
Before the emergence of RZ, Lexus is the representative of the ultimate comfort and extreme tranquility, which has always been the product concept and technical route chosen by the brand for itself, which has made Lexus gain a strong brand image and become the choice of a large number of consumers who also have extremely high requirements for comfort. But at the same time, Lexus has also lost the favor of driving enthusiasts.
Because in fuel vehicles, extreme comfort and extreme handling are completely contrary to the concept, the two can not coexist in the same car, for example, Lexus chose comfort, BMW chose control.
But we all know that Akio Toyoda is a racing driver, and his pursuit of the track has never stopped, which has made him insist on developing the LFA supercar despite the great opposition within Toyota.
But at that time, Akio Toyoda could only use LS and LFA to present the ultimate comfort and extreme performance respectively, and in the era of electrification, Akio Toyoda saw the possibility of realizing the two together in one car, so he began to transform Lexus.
He built a special downhill track for Lexus and moved the headquarters to the past, the purpose is to let Lexus on the basis of the original comfort, the control is done, so that the electrified Lexus = (Mercedes + BMW) × Porsche.
And Lexus' means of achieving this is the technological revolution in the era of electrification. As a result, the RZ has steering-by-wire and an alien steering wheel, which gives it an unprecedented 150° steering angle to the left and right. This extremely short stroke and extremely flexible steering feel is not found in any other electric car, and when driving the RZ on the track, it is difficult to even believe that this is a Lexus SUV, and the tightness of the body when cornering and the car's casual handling feel are other competitors pure electric SUVs, as well as Lexus's original model did not have.
I have to say that this time Akio Toyoda's slow work did have a delicate job.
In addition to the track running circle, the organizer also designed a low-speed pile route with a very short pile spacing, which may be less than 8 meters apart, and when the author drove several other competing cars through, all of them were busy and panicked in a circle of direction, the action was slightly slow to rub into the pile tube, but when driving the RZ through, the left half circle and the right half lap, clean and clean, calm and precise, smooth passage, the kind of line control steering to bring people calm and confidence is in the moment you hold the steering wheel.
Although steer-by-wire technology is not a patent for electric vehicles, it can maximize its characteristics when combined with the new DIRECT4 electronic dynamic all-wheel drive system and the high-power eAxle electric drive system.
It turns out that Infiniti, which used steer-by-wire on fuel vehicles, did not achieve such excellent handling performance, because the characteristics of electric vehicles offer lexus possibilities.
Because of the battery pack, the electric car has a natural low center of gravity, and the bottom of the control is incomparable to that of the fuel car. After the motor replaces the internal combustion engine, the acceleration capacity of the vehicle has almost no threshold, whether it is four seconds or three seconds of 100 km/h acceleration, it is easy to achieve. With the characteristics of these electric vehicles as the basis, coupled with a number of technological innovations, the RZ has the ultimate handling experience that Lexus has never had before.
For the original comfort, the electrified Lexus also put forward a new idea, with the concept of "people-oriented" to create the essence of luxury.
Electrification of the vehicle brings a wonderful sense of tranquility, but also brings a dizzying sense of acceleration, Lexus advocates a luxurious and comfortable experience is to remove uncomfortable dizzy feeling, while replacing all animal leather with environmentally friendly synthetic materials in the interior materials, to interpret the essence of electrification - environmental protection.
Unconsciously, the trend of electric vehicles seems to have deviated from the essence of the car and the original intention of car manufacturing. When chip computing power, radar number, screen size become the main criteria for measuring an electric car, we need to have a car, a brand to pull the standard back to the right track. This is because there are too many electric vehicles at the car level can not meet the needs of users, and in the intelligent configuration is excessive, users need more products that return to the essence of the car, more products that do homework in safety, driving, comfort, economy and other aspects.
The result of RZ is that Lexus has opened up the second vein of Ren Dou through electrification. The two meridians of the human body, namely the Ren Pulse and the Supervisor Pulse. The Ren pulse is shaped in the front and middle line of the human body, which is the sea of yin veins. The chakra, on the other hand, is shaped in the posterior midline of the human body and belongs to the sea of yang veins of the human body.
All along, the car's pursuit of comfortable tranquility and control is fish and bear paws can not be combined, Lexus chose comfortable and quiet, BMW chose to control driving, RenDu is two parallel worlds, the value of RZ is because of the technological revolution brought by electric vehicles, completely opened up the second vein of Ren dou.
Lexus's electrification is not forced and followed, but the use of electrification to make the car look like people have never seen before, so as to define what is the value of electrification, what is the only electrification can be built of the car.