Lexus introduces battery-electric vehicle, UX300e
Luxury car brand Lexus is planning its electric future with the European debut of the UX300e as well as a new concept car, the LF-30.
It is presenting the new UX 300e, Lexus’s first battery-electric vehicle (BEV), and the LF-30 Electrified, a futuristic concept car, at the Kenshiki media forum, taking place this week in Amsterdam (Kenshiki meaning “insight” in Japanese). The UX 300e is the first new model to be developed under the Lexus Electrified strategy and Lexus’s first battery-electric Vehicle (BEV).
As an addition to the new UX compact SUV range, it preserves the model’s distinctive design and convenience characteristics while focusing on realising the performance potential that is unique to electric vehicles, claims the manufacturer.
The UX 300e’s high-output motor provides brisk acceleration, claims Lexus, while its high-capacity batteries, located directly beneath the cabin floor, secure a low centre of gravity and allow for an optimal driving range for a compact urban vehicle (249 miles/400km in the correlated NEDC cycle, corresponding to a more than 186-mile/300km target range in the WLTP cycle).
The UX 300e is scheduled to go on sale in selected European markets from the second half of 2020 and in the UK from January 2021.
Meanwhile, the Lexus LF-30 Electrified is a concept study that shows how advanced electrification technologies can be used to increase driving rewards and redefine luxury in future vehicles. In creating the concept, Lexus has been able to draw on a heritage of innovation and is harnessing the potential of electric power that reaches back to its introduction of the RX 400h SUV in 2005, the premium market’s first hybrid model.
The LF-30 Electrified has a futuristic design that interprets Lexus’s signature spindle shape across the complete vehicle architecture. In the cabin, a new tazuna design concept simplifies operation of different functions so that the driver doesn’t have to change their sightline or use manual switches.
Lexus claims the LF-30 Electrified employs numerous state-of-the-art technologies and posture control to achieve a fundamental leap in vehicle performance, handling and control and driver enjoyment. The in-wheel electric motors in each of the four wheels and positioning of the battery low in the vehicle help secure better inertia handling and high-level driving performance.
