Electric Lexus 'LFA' previewed at FOS
Toyota's ICE sports cars are bowing out in fine fashion; the EV future doesn't look so bad, either...
No, your eyes don’t deceive you - this is the same incredible electric supercar Lexus exhibited as part of a huge electric car onslaught from Toyota at the end of last year. Which is good news for a couple of reasons; firstly, it gives many more people a chance to see the car up close, and nobody would pass up that opportunity. Secondly, the fact this car is in West Sussex at all shows a commitment to the concept. This is no flash-in-the-pan design exercise intended to ramp up excitement for Lexus crossovers.
That said, we still live in the era of the (glorious) 5.0-litre LC500, so a fully-fledged electric supercar from Lexus remains a little way off. (Remember how long the LFA’s gestation was as the desire for perfection endlessly delayed things?) Nevertheless, all the signs are encouraging, even if officially this serves as an indicator of upcoming design direction and therefore doesn't betray much stone-cold technical information.
In fact, much of what’s been divulged for this weekend is what’s been heard before. This may well be the car that promises handling “to further pursue the joy of driving”, and is therefore a flagship that will “capture and continue the endless pursuit of the Lexus driving signature” - but it remains dependent on a few things. One being solid state batteries, the kind required to deliver the divergent promises of a two-second-to-62mph time and cruising range in excess of 430 miles. Furthermore, while the promise of “the next stage of sports BEV” is exciting, it’s hard to know exactly what that is given we’re arguably not at the first stage. Much about the Lexus is intangible, especially for a site that likes to deal in certainties.
That's more cautiousness than cynicism, though - the concept itself looks the business parked in the Duke’s back garden. And even if this concept helps Lexus deliver on its promise of making “ever more personal products”, that would probably be considered a win. But we all know what we really want - a production version that completely resets expectations of Lexus, just how the LFA did all those years ago. Will it happen? “We have intention to develop this car in effort to realise 2030 Lexus electrified vision” is the official line. Make of that what you will…
https://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/lens_hoods__caps/le...
I probably am being a dinosaur but let’s just hope that some manufacturers bring us an alternative to these creations that’ll probably have the character of a hotpoint ????.Maybe this website will be rebranded “dull as dishwater car heads”…….
And IIRC, in addition to extended range and more wallop, solid state batteries are lighter and smaller compared to lithium, so leccy LFA could weigh approx the same as an 812?
Some interesting shapes but hard to really appreciate the form from those photos. I look forward to the design language of "individual motorised transport modules" changing as we move into the electric era. The first cars were literally "horseless carriages" and it took some time for us to get a new design language. So EVs still look like they have a box for the ICE which obviously isn't there.
Ho hum
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