This morning, Lexus officially announced that the new electric model RZ will be launched worldwide on April 20. Different from the previous lexus new or replacement models official announcements, the pure electric model RZ has two more fixed words in front of it - the first and exclusive - and this also means that the new RZ has a strong uniqueness in product positioning and technology.
Judging from the two official pictures released, whether it is the shape or the rectangular steering wheel equipped, the new RZ has a high degree of similarity with the LF-Z, a Lexus electrified concept car released in 2021.
According to the Lexus brand's consistent "tradition" of unlimited proximity to concept cars (the LF-NX, a concept car launched in 2013, and the first generation of NX, an infinitely close to LF-NX production car, was released in 2014), the new RZ will become the "carrier" for the landing of LF-Z technology.
LF-Z demonstrates the Lexus brand's understanding of electrification technology research and development, styling design, driving and interaction, and it is the "integrator" of Lexus electrification technology. Then, it is natural that the new RZ is equipped with the technology demonstrated by the LF-Z.
As can be seen from the rectangular steering wheel, the new RZ cockpit has once again sublimated the Lexus Tazuna rein design concept – inspired by the horse reins in the rider's hand.
The new RZ will be equipped with steer-by-wire, under which the dream of "human-vehicle integration" becomes a reality. The system is composed of sensors, actuators and wire control structures, steering wheel, brake pedals and accelerator pedals to give electrical signals through sensor displacement changes, so that the motor can drive the actuator.
Since the steer-by-wire system makes the physical link between the mechanical part of the steering wheel and the steering machine into an "electrical signal link", it has better sensitivity and more flexible operation.
In addition to steer-by-wire, the DIRECT4 four-wheel drive control system will not be absent from the new RZ. DIRECT4 electric drive control technology allows Lexus electric drive models to easily switch between front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, four-wheel drive and even single-wheel drive mode, resulting in improved posture stability and driving experience.
The new RZ is equipped with Lexus' next-generation DIRECT4 four-wheel drive control system and advanced steer-by-wire technology, ensuring a highly flexible driving performance of the vehicle and truly realizing the driver's "do as he pleases".
It is worth mentioning that thanks to the high degree of "electrification" of DIRECT4 electric drive control technology and steer-by-wire steering, the new RZ can fully achieve a higher level of "intelligent assisted driving".
In fact, the new RZ is not just a pure electric vehicle in Lexus, but an attitude and value of the Lexus brand in the face of the wave of electrification.
At the Guangzhou Auto Show 5 months ago, Lexus launched a new generation of NX, in addition to fuel, HEV models, the new car also launched PHEV models; at that time, Lexus China Executive Deputy General Manager Li Hui said that 2021 is the next chapter of the Lexus brand, and the core of the first chapter focuses on three aspects: strengthening the driving texture, electrification and diversification.
Li Hui further explained that the blessing of a car technology is the icing on the cake, the most basic is the driving texture, whether it is hybrid, or pure electric will follow such a principle, "our thinking point is not to develop a car with their own preferences for customers to accept, is to hope that these preferences of customers can be passed on to us, and then to meet the different needs and hobbies of each person to the greatest extent."
The new RZ is derived from Lexus' new pure electric platform, which highlights Lexus' unique vision of the era of electrification. For example, Lexus does not focus on the product highlights of the new RZ in terms of range, 100 km acceleration and energy consumption, but gives a picture of the cockpit from the third perspective, which also implies from one side that Lexus wants to express not the "physical attributes" of pure electric vehicles (endurance/acceleration, etc.), but wants to express the concept of more advanced "electric smart cars".
In fact, the real meaning of electric vehicles has two levels, one is the "double carbon target" corresponding to environmental protection, and the other is that electric is the "catalyst" for cars from century-old mechanical cars to smart cars. Looking at the current pure electric vehicle models, most of the technical concepts stay at the level of "power source is electric", and do not really integrate electric vehicles and smart cars.
On April 20, more information about the new RZ will be "revealed", when we may be able to see a real "smart car".
Note: Images are from the Web