Early Discovery Of 2023 Lexus RZ 450e Shows Two-Tone Edition

Lexus’ first ever ground-up electric vehicle, the RZ 450e, is set to make its debut on April 20, but ahead of the official unveiling, a set of leaked photos from what appears to be a commercial on Discovery channel have revealed a never-before seen two-tone edition.

The screenshots come from the Lexus RZ Forums, and they show the electric SUV painted in a copper-orange and black two-tone finish. Unlike its Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra cousins, which all ride on the same e-TNGA platform, the RZ drops the protective black wheel arch and bumper cladding.

The black grille extends up the hood and onto the roof in the form of black accents, so for anyone saying Lexus‘s grille couldn’t get any bigger, we present you this as Exhibit A. All jokes aside, switching the two colors cleans the design up a lot, and it could play a key role in transitioning ICE buyers over to EVs who otherwise aren’t a fan of the grille-less look. Overall, the design does a good job of being futuristic while also staying familiar to Lexus’s current crop of buyers.

Plus, if you don’t like the two-tone look, Lexus will also offer regular paint jobs as well, as evidenced by earlier official photos.

But even if they styling is to people’s liking, one thing most won’t be able to overlook is range and performance, especially at the luxury price point this vehicle will sit in (for reference, Toyota’s version of the RZ, the bZ4X, already starts at $42,000). On the topic of the bZ4X, it offers an EPA estimated range of up to 252 miles (406 km) from the 71.4 kWh single-motor powertrain and 228 miles (367 km) from the 72.8 kWh dual-motor powertrain, so expect something similar from the RZ. Power figures for each of those configurations are 201 hp (204 PS / 150 kW) and 214 hp (217 PS / 160 kW) respectively.

All will be revealed in full on April 20 at 6am EST, when the RZ 450e gets digitally unveiled on its dedicated website.