Lexus To Go Fully Electric By 2035, Future Range Includes LFA Successor

Toyota’s media briefing on battery EV strategies included big news on Lexus which is on the road to becoming a BEV-only brand in Europe, North America, and China by 2030, and globally by 2035. The announcement also included several concept cars previewing future production models so let’s dig deeper into them.

We start with the most interesting model for petrolheads which is no other than the new sports battery EV. Lexus refers to it as “a model that symbolizes the future of the brand” while Akio Toyoda said that it will inherit “the driving taste and the secret sauce of the performance cultivated via the development of the LFA”.

Despite being fully electric, the low and wide two-seater sportscar comes with a long bonnet with integrated vents. The low nose gets LED lights surrounding the intakes, plus an aggressive splitter. The greenhouse looks like a single dome while the high-mounted side intakes lead to the short tail that is mostly covered by inlets. Details like the heavily tinted windows suggest that this concept is not close to production, however, we expect most of its design to be carried over.

In terms of performance, the sportscar will be faster than most of today’s supercars with a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in the low 2-second range. For comparison, the LFA needed 3.7 seconds for the same sprint. While the company didn’t go into specifics, the electric powertrain will most likely produce significantly more power than the 552 hp (412 kW / 560 PS) of the naturally aspirated 4.8-liter V10 of its predecessor. Additionally, the EV will possibly come with solid-state battery technology, allowing an estimated cruising range of over 700 km (435 miles).

The second model is the Lexus RZ, a compact crossover that will be unveiled in 2022 as the production version of the LF-Z Electrified concept and the automaker’s first dedicated EV. The model will share the e-TNGA platform with the Toyota bZ4x and the Subaru Solterra and can be seen wearing the RZ 450e moniker. It is expected to come with dual electric motors, the Direct4 torque vectoring system, a 90kWh lithium-ion battery, and steer-by-wire technology.

In terms of design, the RZ looks ready to hit the road. While most of the styling features have been toned down compared to the LF-Z, it maintains a sporty silhouette. Features carried over to production include the fully-covered spindle grille, the dynamic lines on the profile, and most importantly the aggressive tail design with full-width LED taillights, vertical intakes, and a duck-tail rear spoiler.

The three-row family-focused Toyota bZ Large SUV (up) is sharing its platform and several body panels with the more premium Lexus Electrified SUV (down)

Moving up to the SUV ladder, Lexus showed us the Electrified SUV previewing another production model from the larger segment which shares several body panels with the Toyota bZ Large SUV.

This means it will likely sit on a stretched version of the dedicated e-TNGA platform, and possibly come with three rows of seats. Lexus’ large electric SUV is expected to offer a more premium cabin than its Toyota sibling, and will likely feature a more powerful dual-motor setup offering all-wheel-drive. In terms of dimension, it appears to be larger than the RX but smaller than the LX although we can’t be sure since there is no available data at this point.

Finally, Lexus showed a mysterious low-slung four-door sedan with an aerodynamic silhouette and aggressive styling cues inspired by their sportscar. Despite the fact that a full-scale prototype was parked in the presentation hall, Akio Toyoda didn’t mention much about it. However, looking closer to the official rendering of the Lexus future EV range we can see additional variants of the same car.

More specifically, there is a five-door shooting brake bodystyle, a very similar-looking and slightly raised crossover, and a two-door four-seater convertible. All of them are sharing the same design for the front end creating a family look. They will likely sit on the e-TNGA platform but judging from the sporty styling we should expect increased power outputs and a focus on driving dynamics.

Unfortunately, Lexus didn’t give us a timeline for the debuts, but we should expect all of the aforementioned models to arrive before 2030. The Japanese automaker has set the target of 1 million global EV sales by the end of the decade so we wouldn’t be surprised if the production versions of the concepts arrive shortly after the 2023 Lexus RZ which will be introduced in 2022.

Lexus will only offer electric vehicles in major markets including Europe, North America, and China by 2030. The last Lexus-branded ICE-powered or hybrid offerings will disappear from all markets by 2035 when Lexus aims to become carbon-neutral. Below, you can find galleries for each one of the concept cars previewing future models, including screenshots from the official video presentation.

Lexus Sports Battery EV