Naysayers have criticized Toyota and Lexus for not getting into the electric vehicle space as quickly as some of its rivals. Yes, EV market share in the U.S. nearly doubled last year to 5.6 percent from 3.1 percent. But that still leaves nearly 95% of U.S. consumers choosing cars powered by gasoline. So, it seems that Toyota does have time to enter the EV segment, something it did last year with the introduction of the Toyota bZ4X.
Now, Lexus has done the same thing, with the introduction of the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e, which uses the same architecture as its Toyota cousin, in this case Toyota’s New Global Architecture. But this is not a case of a Toyota with more window dressing, as the Lexus offers better performance and a host of luxury options.
The 2023 Lexus RZ 450e’s overall appearance calls to mind the RX, but it lacks the RX’s spindle grille. Instead, the RZ’s sheet metal and trim are shaped to suggest its form in fine futuristic fashion. The RZ’s overall look is similar to the RX, but carefully hewn to deliver a drag coefficient of 0.29, the slipperiest Lexus yet.
