ENCINITAS, California — My Florida friends call the Lexus RX SUV their official state vehicle because so many retirees drive them around the streets of Naples, Tampa, Orlando and so on. That could be fertile ground for Lexus’s first electric vehicle, the RZ.
Virtually identical to the RX in size and operation, the battery-driven RZ would make a smooth commuter in the metro confines where EVs excel.
And the RZ would get noticed even in the sea of Florida RXs. The Lexus’s L-shaped headlamps, scalloped body panels and horizontal taillight signature are unmistakably Lexus, but RZ design differs in one important way from its RX (and smaller NX) siblings: the giant grille is gone.
