Coming soon: Lexus RZ 450e and Electrified Sport concept
Lexus hits its electrified stride with a sharply styled new RZ 430e, while the Electrified Sport teases a battery-powered successor to the LFA supercar


Words by: Dan Trent
Published on 6 December 2022 | 0 min read
Lexus isn’t likely to make the same mistake twice, shared platform technology with the Toyota bZ4X providing the foundations for its own RZ 450e with some bold new tech to make it stand out from its Toyota brother. That’s helped further by the eye-catching looks, which takes Lexus’ distinctively Japanese styling language into the electric age with a more premium look than the bZ4X. Lexus is already sharing technical information about the claimed class-leading efficiency – the all-important miles you get for every kWh you charge into the battery – and says the RZ will do 273 miles on a full charge. It’s also saying the battery will retain 90 per cent of its capacity after 10 years of use – an increasingly important consideration as EVs now enter the used market and buyers need reassurance the performance is maintained as the vehicle gets older. There’s also some interesting new tech for the car, including what it calls Direct4 all-wheel drive and a yoke-controlled One Motion Grip ‘steer-by-wire’ system.

The yoke is on you
Nissan’s Lexus rival Infiniti offered its own take on steer-by-wire a few years back but it wasn't well received. Coming up with a system that attracts tech-loving early adopters but also reassures more traditional customers is going to be the challenge for Lexus but there’s no denying it gives the RZ a talking point. We were show side-by-side videos of Lexus engineers driving the same course with the yoke and a conventional steering system to demonstrate the apparent benefits, but whether it’s something real-world drivers are ready for remains to be seen. There’s time to ponder on that given, given One Motion Grip won’t be available at the outset with the RZ and Lexus is only saying it will be added as an option at some point in the future.

Lexus Electrified Sport
And if the Electrified Sport can do to the electric car world what the LFA managed against the supercar establishment competitors should be looking carefully at what’s coming from Lexus’s new, standalone development and design facility in Japan. Watch this space!
