Lexus is getting into the electric vehicle (EV) game.
Toyota’s luxury arm released three teaser images late Thursday with a single sentence to explain them – “Peek at the newest Lexus electrified vehicle: The all-new Lexus RZ.”
“Electrified,” we should caution, doesn’t necessarily mean this is an EV, or purely electric vehicle. The term can refer to EVs or to hybrid-powered cars.
But Lexus releasing another hybrid wouldn’t be big news. Besides, the photos give us a very good idea of exactly what the RZ is.
Toyota released its own all-electric small SUV just last month. The 2023 Toyota bZ4X is a compact crossover about the size of the Lexus NX, with a driving range of around 250 miles. It’s available in a front-wheel-drive (FWD) model with 201 horsepower or as an all-wheel-drive model with 215 horses.
If you were to design a Lexus versionof the bZ4X, you’d probably come up with what appears in the photos Lexus released. It has the same origami front fascia as the bZ4X, but the Lexus spindle grille is folded in. It has a gentler curving roofline, with the same roofline spoiler. And the Lexus name is spelled out across the liftgate, but the liftgate looks otherwise identical to the Toyota’s.
Lexus released no mechanical details. We would expect a Lexus vehicle to offer more than 215 horsepower, so the 2023 Lexus RZ might well use more powerful electric motors than its Toyota cousin. Lexus leather and sound-deadening seem mandatory. But, fundamentally, the RZ is likely to be a dressier bZ4X – a perfectly reasonable first EV for Lexus.
That move would make the bZ4X platform a prolific one. Toyota developed it in cooperation with Subaru. Subaru plans to sell its own version – the 2023 Solterra – that is almost indistinguishable from the bZ4X and comes with all-wheel drive.
