TOYOTA CITY, Japan (March 30, 2021) – Lexus announced today initiatives for the transformation of the Lexus brand through its “Lexus Concept Reveal Show”.
With a spirit of innovation and support from buyers around the world, Lexus continues to evolve as a luxury lifestyle brand. Lexus has delivered amazing product and brand experiences since 1989. Now the automotive industry in entering a once-in-a-century transformation. Customers’ lifestyles and values are changing and diversifying at a speed beyond imagination. Social environment, mobility needs, and customer lifestyles have evolved as part of the evolving luxury landscape. Throughout it all, Lexus continues to innovate for the benefit of society, as well as for our customers. Lexus will respond swiftly with careful consideration to the changing times and needs of our customers, and will transform itself into a brand that exceeds customer expectations.
Since the launch of the RX 400h – the world’s first luxury electrified model – in 2005, Lexus customers have purchased nearly 2,000,000 electrified vehicles. Lexus currently offers 9 models of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in 90 countries and regions around the world. Lexus has always pursued both performance and environmental friendliness. Through its “Lexus Electrified” vision announced in 2019, Lexus aims to realize a fundamental leap in performance by employing electrification technology, and to continue to provide its customers with the enjoyment and pleasure that cars must offer.
Today Lexus held the world premiere of “LF-Z Electrified”, a conceptual BEV that incorporates driving performance, styling, and technologies envisioned for realization by 2025. It features ideal dynamic balance achieved through the optimal placement of the battery and electric motors, and offers a new four-wheel driving force control technology known as “DIRECT4” that generates a superior and highly flexible driving performance, setting the LF-Z Electrified apart. Also, in the near future, Lexus plans to incorporate technologies and advanced infotainment functions that will further enrich our customers’ mobility experience.
By 2025, Lexus plans to introduce 20 new or improved models, including more than 10 electrified models such as BEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles(PHEVs), HEVs, in line with the needs of each country and region around the world and based on the concept of offering the right products in the right place at the right time.
In addition to strengthening and expanding its core sedan models and SUV lineup, Lexus will pursue the possibility of rolling out models such as sports models that continue to provide the fun of driving, a car that redefines the concept of having a chauffeur, and new genres that have never before existed. In doing so, it will take on the challenge of providing new value that exceeds the expectations of its diverse customers.
Lexus aims to offer electric variants of all its models by 2025, with the sales ratio of electric vehicles exceeding that of gasoline-engine vehicles. By 2050, Lexus aims to achieve carbon neutrality throughout the lifecycle of its entire model lineup – from the manufacturing of materials, parts and vehicles, to vehicle logistics, to the final disposal and recycling of older vehicles.
This is the 2021 implementation of Lexus' vision of the future.
To embody to an even higher degree Lexus’s human-centered approach, which has been the foundation of the Lexus-brand since its birth, the cockpit was designed based on the new concept of “Tazuna” (“tazuna” is Japanese for “rein”). Inspired by the relationship between horse and rider, who communicate through a single rein, steering wheel-mounted switches and the vehicle’s head-up display have been highly coordinated to create a space in which various functions, such as the navigation system, audio system, and driving mode selection, can be performed while concentrating on driving and without movement of the driver’s line of sight or need to operate complicated switches.
While the cockpit is a key focal point, the low positioning of the instrument panel relative to the vehicle occupants and other measures are used to express a refreshing minimalism and a space that offers true Omotenashi.
The entire interior has been made a clean and high-quality space by a form that seamlessly connects the cowl to the front doors and on to the rear doors. Also, a panoramic roof uses long plates of glass that bring about a feeling of openness, emphasizing the minimalist environment.
While the augmented reality head-up display, gauges, touch display, and other information-provision functions are grouped into a single module, driving system functions are concentrated around the steering wheel. This suggests the direction of next-generation Lexus interior styling, with expanded forward visibility and the driver being naturally invited to look forward.
ADVANCED FEATURES TO ENRICH YOUR MOBILITY EXPERIENCE
In the LF-Z Electrified, AI learns the driver’s preferences and behavioral characteristics and provides constant support to the driver. Voice communication contributes to improved operability while driving. The voice recognition system uses the latest AI to recognize, learn, and adapt to a driver’s habits and preferences, supporting with tasks such as determining driving routes and making restaurant reservations. Such interactivity between AI and driver leads to a fruitful dialogue, thus improving the overall ownership and driving experience, functioning as a lifestyle concierge.
The use of a digital key allows family and friends to access the car without having to hand over a conventional key, in addition to operating the vehicle with a smartphone, such as opening and closing the door locks. Also, by enabling service providers to access the car via the digital key, it will be possible to provide vehicle-linked services such as package delivery to the car or car sharing, making life with a car even richer.
The E-Latch system makes door opening and closing smoother and safer. When boarding, the retractable door handle automatically appears above the vehicle’s surface when a driver or passenger approaches with key in hand. The door can be unlocked and opened smoothly by touching the sensor inside the handle. When exiting the vehicle, the door is opened by pressing the door-opening switch. An added benefit: LF-Z Electrified’s sensors scan the surrounding environment for oncoming and adjacent traffic prior to passenger egress to provide an additional layer of passenger safety.
The panoramic roof, which gives a sense of openness, uses electrochromic glass and is equipped with entertainment functions such as dimming for privacy and shade, or illumination to reflect the passing night sky. In the center of the roof is a touch panel that connects the front and rear seats and is used for communication between passengers. The reclining rear seats are equipped with a massage function, bringing a soothing and peaceful time to all passengers when traveling.
The next generation Mark LevinsonÂą audio system can reproduce a concert hall-like audio experience. With the next-generation sound management function, active noise cancellation facilitates interaction or privacy amongst passengers, providing a quiet and comfortable interior space.
The LF-Z Electrified, as a study model that suggests the direction of the evolution of Lexus styling, aims for a simple and captivating shape rooted in strong proportions and a distinctive appearance. Specifically, the overall form, which starts low in the front and peaks toward the rear, as suggestive of a BEV, is composed of a continuous silhouette centered on a smooth cabin. Large-diameter wheels that transmit the power of the high-power electric motors to the road surface are situated as much as possible at the vehicle’s four corners for a wide stance with a low center of gravity.
Lexus has taken up the challenge of evolving the Lexus design icon of the spindle shape into a spindle body as the overall body architecture in a new form of expression. The aim was to create a three-dimensional design that transforms the form of the vehicle body itself into the icon of the Lexus brand and to continuously develop functional expressions and styling that keep abreast with the evolution of technology.
The use of DIRECT4, which freely controls the driving force of the four wheels, enabled styling that evokes the image of dynamic driving in which the distribution of driving force is linearly shifted. The accentuation of the doors fluently transitions from the front wheels to the rear wheels, which are surrounded by shiny, projecting, flare-shaped molding.
In the rear, a clean and simple horizontal design combines with the molding that emphasizes the projecting wheels to express a powerful stance in support of a torque-strong driving force. Also, horizontally displaying “LEXUS” in the continuous slender rear combination lamp contributes to styling that, along with the front of the vehicle, symbolizes the next generation of Lexus.
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