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Lexus Set To Add Another EV To Its Ranks As It Has Trademarked HZ
Lexus has established the model name ‘HZ’ in Europe. More specifically, this concerns the HZ300e, HZ450e, and HZ550e, three versions of a new electric model.
So? So yes. Not only does ‘HZ’ share the ‘Z’ with Lexus’ first fully-fledged electric model, the RZ, but the ‘e’ at the end also says that these are EVs. Just as hybrids get an ‘h’ there, fully electric models also get an ‘e’ at Lexus. The three type names work, as noted by someone on the Lexus RX Owners forum, but to our slight shame, we needed Carscoops to point that out.
The question is, of course: what kind of electric Lexus will the Lexus HZ be? That’s not that easy. To answer. Lexus has been particularly successful lately at throwing up a smokescreen when it comes to its electric future plans, only releasing carefully measured amounts of information. These usually raise more questions than they answer. About a year ago, for example, we were presented with a whole arsenal of electric models, but all in a vague image. More recently, the LF-ZC and the LF-ZL appeared, a low-electric sedan-like and a larger, higher model. Would the ‘HZ’ end up on the production version of one of those two? Waiting is the only option at the moment.
It seems clear that the HZ will not be a small boy because the figures for the engine version are quite high. For example, the compact LBX is available as a 250h, while the medium-sized and electric RZ is only available as a 450e at the time of writing. The combination ‘300’, ‘450’, and ‘550’ within one model is actually only found on the large RX, so that gives food for thought.
