Lexus shows off electric supercar, gives best look yet at new sedan, SUV, wagons and convertible
The Japanese luxury brand Lexus has added fuel to its EV fire, revealing more images and animations of a future electrified sports car, sports sedan, an SUV, two wagons and a four-seat convertible.
The sports car, sedan and SUV were among 15 all-new electric vehicles revealed by Toyota Motor Corporation chairman Akio Toyoda as the company outlined a plan to reveal 30 new EVs by 2030.
They will be released under the Toyota, Lexus and new BZ (Beyond Zero) brands.
The Lexus sports car – pitched as an all-electric replacement for the legendary LFA V10 supercar – was one of the stars of the day.
“Lexus will develop a next-generation battery EV sports car that inherits the driving taste, or the secret sauce, of the performance cultivated via the development of the LFA,” Toyoda said.
It is expected to debut with solid state batteries – so the second half of the 2020s – and boast a 700km range.
Expect 0-100km/h acceleration in the low two seconds bracket. In other words, it will be a tech flagship and one that takes the EV fight to supercar brands Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
The new computer-generated images show the Lexus sports car in action on the road and racetrack and parked outdoors as well as against a dark studio background.
It is shown driving alongside an LFA in a video and then pulls up alongside several other future Lexus EVs including a convertible and two wagons, which have only been teased previously in shadowy images.
The new images of the Lexus Electrified sedan and electrified SUV are indoors.
The sedan shapes as a potential replacement for the IS compact four-door that is no longer sold in Australia, while the SUV looks big enough to accommodate three rows of seats, like the current LandCruiser-based LX.
Lexus Australia CEO John Pappas acknowledged Australians loved the IS sedan, which until the arrival of the NX SUV was the brand’s top selling model.
“[The] IS was a really good car for us and customers loved it,” said Pappas when asked about whether there would be a future replacement for the IS.
“We would continue to look from a product planning perspective … in terms of what that’s going to look like,” he added, saying it could “possibly” be an EV.
Before any of these models make it to market Lexus should first launch the RZ450e in Australia in 2023, its first EV based on a dedicated EV architecture. Officially, it is yet to be confirmed, although Pappas added “we’d love to get it” in Australia, somehting that will be decided when the car is fully revealed later in 2022.
Lexus already sells the compact UX 300e here.
Under the Lexus Electrified plan the brand is forecast to go all-electric by 2035.
