New Lexus sports car to headline the brand’s ambitious electrification plans
Lexus has revealed new images of the electric sports car it will use as a figurehead for the ambitious electrification program it announced last year. Among the various all-electric models it has in the wings, including the usual spread of SUVs and saloon cars, is this super sports car, which Lexus has modelled as a successor to its iconic LFA, therefore a natural halo model for the brand.
As such, much like how the LFA pushed its combustion engine technology to the absolute limit, this new Lexus sports car will form a test bed for innovations in battery development, such as solid state technology.
Toyota president Akio Toyoda has confirmed that, until the technology has matured enough to be used in a production vehicle, this new sports car will utilise lithium-ion battery tech, targeting an acceleration time to 100kph in the low-2sec zone along with a range of 698 kilometers.
The concept car shown also previews the next-generation design language that will debut in these new models, confirming that despite an electric powertrain, the coupe will share its classic sports car proportions of a long bonnet and cab-rear layout with the LFA.
This halo sports car will cap a plan for the total adoption of battery electric technology across the Lexus line-up in European, Chinese and American markets by 2030, eventually phasing out combustion models globally by 2035.
The first step in this total electrification will be the introduction of the brand’s first bespoke EV. Called the RZ, it’s a midsize SUV that will share its bespoke EV underpinnings with the Toyota bZ4x and Subaru Solara. Unlike Toyota, Lexus already has a pure-electric model available in the UX300e, but its construction is adapted from an existing Corolla-derived platform.
Lexus also revealed design studies for a larger SUV and a range of midsize models that look equivalent to the current IS in saloon, estate, shooting brake and convertible forms. Each features a distinctive new take on the Lexus design language, including a new inverted spindle grille not dissimilar in execution to Audi’s inverted grille design motif. Each of these models will come on stream later on.
This article originally appeared at evo.co.uk
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