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A few days ago, Lexus RZ officially opened the pre-sale, the pre-sale price is 37.5-465000 yuan. It is understood that the new car positioning medium-sized pure electric SUV, based on Toyota bz4X, Subaru Solterra shared e-TNGA architecture to build the first pure electric model, its arrival is regarded as a new starting point for Lexus brand electrification.

In terms of appearance, on the basis of maintaining the family design style, Lexus RZ changed the spindle grille to a closed panel, which still showed the visual outline of the past, and adopted the design of the same color as the car body. The hook-shaped headlamp still has sharp lines, blending into both sides of the front face, while the black decorative panel of the fog lamp area on both sides contrasts with the net, bringing unique visual effects.

On the side of the body, the overall line design of the Lexus RZ is relatively complex, the blackened D-pillar creates the visual effect of a suspended roof, and black eyebrows add some highlights. In addition, RZ also uses the latest Lexus e-Latch electronic door handle, the door button is integrated on the inside of the handle and retains the mechanical opening mechanism. In the rear part of the car, the convex back-up door forms the style of a small spoiler, and the bottom is the popular through-type light belt design. The rear of the new car is designed with the word "LEXUS" in the middle of the taillight, and there is no brand LOGO. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the new car are 4805/1895/1635mm, wheelbase 2850mm, positioning medium-sized SUV.

In terms of interior decoration, the special-shaped steering wheel has added a lot of attention, but because this set of on-line steering system does not have a traditional mechanical backup (steering column), it is not clear when it will come to the domestic market. Officials also said that they are promoting the certification and access of relevant laws and regulations. Therefore, at present, the Lexus RZ can only offer a traditional round steering wheel. In addition, the new car is equipped with a large-size central control screen and a full liquid crystal instrument, and the 14-inch central control screen adopts embedded design. Compared with some new car-building forces and domestic electric car products, there is still some gap. A row of keys with quick functions are also designed below for easy operation. In terms of storage space, the Lexus RZ is not too bright, the space of each storage cell in the front row is more conventional, and there are additional storage tanks under the center console to store some larger personal belongings.

In terms of power, the Lexus RZ 450e is equipped with a front and rear dual motor drive system, with a maximum power of 150kW for the front motor and 80kW for the rear motor, and is equipped with 71.4kWh batteries. The new car is also equipped with DIRECT4 electronic dynamic four-wheel drive system, which precisely controls the front and rear wheel drive power distribution based on the information collected by the vehicle's wheel speed, acceleration pedal and steering angle sensors, and the distribution ratio can be adjusted between 0 and 100.

The joint venture brand launched relatively late, and most of the electric cars launched before are "oil-to-electricity". The performance of battery life, intelligence and other products are not as good as those of Chinese brand electric vehicles, and there is no popular model yet. It is worth noting that in the face of the explosive growth of new energy vehicles, Japanese car companies compete for market share. According to Toyota's plan, by 2025, the bZ series plans to launch seven pure electric models, five of which will be introduced into the Chinese market. By 2025, Toyota and Lexus will introduce 35 new electric models to the Chinese market, including 10 pure electric models, when the Lexus brand will be fully transformed into pure electric brands.

Although Lexus RZ's first pure electric model based on e-TNGA architecture, its overall product competitiveness is not strong, coupled with its import status, the price of the product is slightly higher than that of the medium-sized SUV currently on sale. For comparison, the pure electric medium-sized SUV with about 300000 yuan includes Tesla Model Y, M5, X3 ES6, BMW iX3 and so on. Compared with the above models, the overall performance of the Lexus RZ is not satisfactory.

According to the insurance figures, Lexus terminal sales in 2022 were 183983, down 16.06% from the same period last year, of which 15339 were sold in December 2022, up 59.66% from the same period last year.

This is the first decline in sales since Lexus entered China. In terms of specific models, the best performer is still the ES series, with cumulative sales falling 7.00% year-on-year to 98439 vehicles in 2022. This was followed by the RX series, where cumulative sales fell 8.35 per cent year-on-year to 44556 vehicles in 2022. The third is the NX series, where cumulative sales for the year fell 47.01% year-on-year to 19325 vehicles. In addition, Lexus UX, LS and LM sold 9695, 4494 and 3610 vehicles respectively, with a very low sense of presence in their respective market segments.

Li Bin, chairman of Xilai Automobile, said at a media conference on December 24, 2022, "next year, our annual sales will be far behind those of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. But I am still very confident that next year's sales will surpass that of Lexus." Data show that a total of 122486 new cars were delivered in 2022, an increase of 34.0% over the same period last year. At present, the competition of pure electric vehicles in China is becoming more and more fierce, and new products and technologies emerge one after another, leaving little time for traditional luxury brands.

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