The Lexus battery-electric crossover may share a platform with the Toyota bZ4X, but it’s expected to have a lot more power.
- Lexus reveals more of the exterior design of the upcoming 2023 Lexus RZ 450e, scheduled to be revealed in full this spring ahead of sales later this year.
- Lexus RZ 450e will share e-TNGA platform with the the Toyota bZ4X and the Subaru Solterra, but is expected to offer significantly more power, and AWD standard.
- The model is expected to start around $50,000 when it lands here in the second half of 2022, offering slightly less than 250 miles of range.
Ahead of its official unveiling later this spring, Lexus has revealed more angles of the battery-electric RZ 450e crossover. Slated to share the e-TNGA platform with the Toyota bZ4X and the Subaru Solterra, the RZ 450e will certainly be the luxury model of the trio, offering all-wheel drive as a standard feature unlike its Toyota sibling.
A glimpse of the RZ 450e was first seen in the second half of December 2021, as part of an extensive lineup of concept vehicles previewed by Toyota, with the crossover slated to arrive on sale later this year as a 2023 model year vehicle.
The additional angles of the crossover revealed this week are expected to be those of a prototype or near-production model, featuring just about all the small details we’ll see on the real thing.
The design similarities to the bZ4X are not abundantly obvious, with the exception of the overall profile, with the Lexus model featuring unique sheetmetal all around and a version of the corporate spindle grille on a blunt nose. The two will still share the fastback profile and the general shape of the D-pillar, in addition to smaller details like the charging port located in the upper part of the front wing.
Lexus hasn’t yet shared any glimpses of the interior and has not confirmed the specs of this model. Based on what we know about the Toyota bZ4X, however, the Lexus model is expected to feature a 72.8-kWh (gross) battery pack and two motors producing 201 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque each. By contrast, the dual-motor Toyota version is expected to serve up 215 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque, so the bump in power could be quite substantial.
Just what kind of range this will buy the Lexus model remains to be seen, given the fact that the longest-ranged single-motor bZ4X was said to have a 310-mile range in the WLTP cycle. As with other dual-motor models, the RZ 450e may pay a bit of a range price for the extra power. As such, we expect the Lexus model to land just a bit south of the 250-mile mark in the EPA cycle when it lands stateside in the second half of 2022.
By the time the RZ 450e arrives, it will face quite a cast of competitors among luxury electric crossovers. Expected to land with a starting price around $50,000, the Lexus model will mostly compete with offerings from Team Germany while undercutting some older models like the Tesla Model Y in price.
