Big news is coming to Lexus. The brand is working on a new fully electric model and is preparing a fuel cell car. In addition, a system for adjusting four-wheel drive makes its debut.
Not only at Toyota there is a lot of electrical news in the pipeline, its luxury brand Lexus is also making progress in that regard. Lexus shares the first images of a still tightly packed SUV that is fully electrically powered. It appears to be a completely new model, roughly the size of the RX. A concept car that we will see in early 2021 (see teaser below) may be a preview of the newcomer. Lexus is keeping details under its cap for the time being, except that it is a four-wheel drive car with ‘Direct4’ technology, but more on that later. It would be the second electric model with a plug, after the already available more compact UX.
Lexus concept
In addition to a BEV, Lexus also shows an image of a hydrogen car. It is somewhat less camouflaged and with not too much imagination you can already see that it seems to be an ES. This one also has four-wheel drive and Direct4. Count on it that it has a little more to offer than the Toyota Mirai. After all, that is a rear-wheel drive car. Again, Lexus omits details, but an output of more than 300 hp does not seem inconceivable to us. Who knows, we may be misled with the appearance of this prototype, although it still seems strongly that it concerns a further development of the current ES. That could also indicate a fairly quick introduction. We wait and see.
Direct4
As mentioned, both cars come with ‘Direct4’. In short, that is a system that distributes the forces between the front and rear wheels. The electric motors are integrated in the axles for this purpose, Lexus calls that ‘e-axle’. This should make it possible to choose different distributions, depending on your wishes. When driving quietly, the majority of the power goes to the front wheels, for better steering, the power is distributed more 50:50, but those who want to work more brusquely can also put the emphasis on the rear wheels. Not a new concept in itself, but a novelty for Lexus. Lexus says this technology will also be available for hybrid powertrains.