Lexus first showed its new all-electric RZ 450e in December while giving few other details about the car. New images of the prototype released Tuesday are a bit clearer, with the RZ 450e looking something like a fancier Toyota bZ4X or Subaru Solterra. This is because it probably shares the same e-TNGA platform as those cars.
The new images were part of a Lexus release announcing its global sales results for 2021. In that release, Lexus reiterated its claim that it wants to be all-electric by 2035 and that it wants a battery-electric Lexus for sale in each segment by 2030.
And Koji Sato, Lexus’s international president, had this to say about the brand’s future:
In 2022, we will continue to refine Lexus’ unique design and driving taste that appeals to the sensibilities of our customers, based on our thoughts to “be the brand that people who know the real thing choose at the end of the day”. We will also accelerate the development of electric vehicles starting with the BEV exclusive model “RZ” in spring, we will release a series of new models that will accompany the lifestyles of a variety of customers.
We glean that the real version of the RZ will come in spring, which technically starts on March 20 and ends June 21. But that is all. We’ve only sort of seen this car’s interior in a video that Lexus put out in December. We don’t know how powerful it will be or how many motors will power it, nor do we know its range. Pretty much the only thing to talk about at the moment is the styling — in particular the grille or lack thereof, as Lexus’s grilles have gotten cartoonishly large in recent years. This one is pretty restrained, though still unmistakable. It must be; it is a Lexus.
