Next-gen Lexus cars geared towards battery EVs
Aichi, Japan-based automotive group Toyota Motor Corporation, home to the Toyota and Lexus brands, has revealed plans to release thirty battery electric vehicle (EV) models by 2030.
In a speech delivered to members of the press, the company’s president, Akio Toyoda, described the move as integral to its wider carbon neutrality strategy, part of which he said would involve the business doing its utmost to realise “carbon-neutral vehicles”.
Mr Toyoda, who is Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda’s grandson, described this category of vehicle as that which would run on clean energy and achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions throughout its entire useful life.
Singling out Lexus, a “new chapter” was introduced for the brand, involving “extracting the full potential of the vehicle through electrification technology”. Mr Toyoda added that he believed the battery powered EV would become Lexus’ “future symbol” as a model which “most clearly expresses the evolution of the automobile brought about by electrification”.
The Lexus RZ is the latest in this genre, the president stated.
Plans were also unveiled regarding the development of a “next generation”, high-performance Sports Battery EV for the brand, modelled after its LFA sports car. Mr Toyoda emphasised that his company’s end goal centres on evolving Lexus into a brand fully geared towards battery EVs.
Image: Toyota Motor Corporation.
