Photo: Noriaki Mitsuhashi/N-RAK Photo Agency, Toyota
Lexus has revealed the new RZ all-electric SUV alongside a larger electric SUV concept, while the carmaker vows to go all-electric by 2030. Lexus had already entered the EV realm with the UX 300e, launched in 2019.
The sleeping giant has awakened today, as Toyota announced a $70 billion EV push with its premium brand Lexus set to go all-electric in Europe, the United States, and China by 2030. The Japanese carmaker has long time insisted that battery-powered vehicles are not ready for prime time, while at the same time pushing their internal combustion engines, albeit in electrified forms. Toyota is also a major supporter of hydrogen cars, both fuel-cell and combustion-type.
It seems the company’s CEO Akio Toyoda, as reluctant as he still is about battery-powered EVs, decided to take one last fun ride in the rally-prepped Yaris GR and then went ballistic announcing no less than 30 new electric models under Toyota and Lexus brands by 2030. While making this announcement, 15 of them were on stage behind him.
Lexus took the opportunity to announce the production version of the RZ mid-sized SUV, basically an electric counterpart to its coveted RX model. As far as the naming scheme goes, we figure Z is coming from ”Zero emissions” and will also spin electric offerings for every segment Lexus is in today.
The RZ is the first Lexus’s EV built on top of Toyota’s new e-TNGA all-electric platform that is also used for the Toyota bZ4X. It’s not their first electric car, though, as that would be the UX 300e compact crossover launched in 2019. The production-ready RZ shows a clear Lexus DNA, with the usual spindle grille, only this time without vents.
The Lexus RZ will go on sale next year, first as an RZ 450e Direct4 in Europe and Japan, with a U.S. version coming soon thereafter. Details offered at the conference include the yoke steering wheel that takes advantage of the steer-by-wire system with a variable steering ratio. The future electric SUV will be available with the Direct4 all-wheel-drive system that can constantly monitor the power transmitted to the wheels and adjusts it based on throttle and steering inputs, as well as road conditions.
A second, larger SUV was on stage at the presentation, but it only bore the generic name of “Lexus electrified SUV.”. While electrified does not equal electric, we suspect it is still an all-electric SUV, judging by the closed grille and the scope of the event. This SUV is also remarkably similar to the Toyota concept dubbed “bZ Large SUV.”
It seems the company’s CEO Akio Toyoda, as reluctant as he still is about battery-powered EVs, decided to take one last fun ride in the rally-prepped Yaris GR and then went ballistic announcing no less than 30 new electric models under Toyota and Lexus brands by 2030. While making this announcement, 15 of them were on stage behind him.
Lexus took the opportunity to announce the production version of the RZ mid-sized SUV, basically an electric counterpart to its coveted RX model. As far as the naming scheme goes, we figure Z is coming from ”Zero emissions” and will also spin electric offerings for every segment Lexus is in today.
The RZ is the first Lexus’s EV built on top of Toyota’s new e-TNGA all-electric platform that is also used for the Toyota bZ4X. It’s not their first electric car, though, as that would be the UX 300e compact crossover launched in 2019. The production-ready RZ shows a clear Lexus DNA, with the usual spindle grille, only this time without vents.
The Lexus RZ will go on sale next year, first as an RZ 450e Direct4 in Europe and Japan, with a U.S. version coming soon thereafter. Details offered at the conference include the yoke steering wheel that takes advantage of the steer-by-wire system with a variable steering ratio. The future electric SUV will be available with the Direct4 all-wheel-drive system that can constantly monitor the power transmitted to the wheels and adjusts it based on throttle and steering inputs, as well as road conditions.
A second, larger SUV was on stage at the presentation, but it only bore the generic name of “Lexus electrified SUV.”. While electrified does not equal electric, we suspect it is still an all-electric SUV, judging by the closed grille and the scope of the event. This SUV is also remarkably similar to the Toyota concept dubbed “bZ Large SUV.”
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