Lexus revealed its RZ full-electric midsize SUV alongside concepts detailing the brand's all-electric future including a sedan, a larger SUV and a supercar.
The models were shown as part of a wider Toyota presentation on Tuesday detailing the company's plans to sell 3.5 million EVs a year by 2030.
Lexus will become an electric-only brand by 2030 in Europe, U.S. and China by which time it will be selling 1 million full EVs annually, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said. The brand will sell only full-electric cars globally by 2035.
Lexus President Koji Sato said the brand will be at the forefront of Toyota's push to make full-electric cars more exciting to drive, starting with the RZ. The brand's cars will "clearly express the evolution of the automobile brought about by electrification," he said.
Toyota's presentation included a video of Toyoda enthusiastically test-driving a prototype all-wheel-drive RZ, which shuffles power between its two axles.
The RZ is Lexus's first EV on Toyota's e-TNGA all-electric platform shared with the upcoming Toyota bZ4X SUV that is due next year. The RZ was teased at Toyota media event in Brussels early December.
Details given included the yoke-style steering wheel that takes advantage of a steer-by-wire system to switch ratios to give sensitive steering at high speed and fewer turns during low-speed maneuvers.
The fully revealed car shows it retains the Lexus spindle grille, but now blanked-off with strakes on the sides.
The profile of the car appears lower than equivalent SUVs but is otherwise recognizable as a Lexus with its creases and blacked out rear pillar.
The RZ will go on sale in Europe and Japan by the of next year. U.S sales will come later but no timeframe has been given.
The most dramatic concept revealed on Tuesday was a supercar called Lexus Electrified Sport that "inherits" the driving performance of the Lexus LFA supercar, Toyoda said.
