Lexus quietly posted pricing for the battery-electric 2023 RZ 450e crossover on its retail site. There are two trims at launch, RZ 450e Premium and RZ 450e Luxury, both all-wheel drive. The Premium comes with features like a panoramic glass roof, 14-inch touchscreen display, climate controlled, eight-way power seats in the front row, heated steering wheel, single-color ambient lighting, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wireless phone charging, five USB ports, Lexus 10-speaker audio, and adaptive cruise control.
At launch last April, Lexus estimated the RZ’s range on the Premium’s standard 18-inch wheels at 225 miles. That range figure has since been reduced to 220 miles on the 18-inchers. The Premium trim starts at $59,650 after the $1,150 destination charge, but only if painted in the Caviar exterior color. The six additional color options add $500 to the price. The Premium can also be optioned with 20-inch wheels for an additional $1.240, that choice reducing driving range to an estimated 196 miles on a charge.
The Luxury trim upgrades the spec with a 10-inch heads-up display, heated rear outboard seats, Ultrasuede seat fabric with Tsuyasumi trim, multicolor ambient lighting, a “radiant front knee heater,” acoustic glass, auto dimming side mirrors, an 1,800-watt, 13-speaker, Mark Levinson sound system, lane change assist, and front cross-traffic alert. It comes on the 20-inch, 10-spoke wheels standard and starts at $65,150 after destination.
The RZ stretches 189 inches long, 74.6 inches wide, and 64.4 inches tall, dimensions that make it about three inches shorter, an inch wider, and with a roof sitting three inches lower than the RX. A pair of electric motors linked to a 71.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack provide AWD. Its 308 combined horsepower comes from a 201-hp e-motor on the front axle and a 107-hp unit on the rear.
As an aside, we recently chided VinFast for planning to sell a $50,XXX battery-electric VF 8 City Edition crossover here with 348 or 402 horsepower and 179 miles of range, the range updated to 207 miles after what we presume was a planned over-the-air update in January. New pricing for the VinFast makes it about $11,000 less expensive than the Lexus. VinFast has other hurdles to surmount, and we’re sure the power of the Lexus badge will send buyers to the RZ, but one has to search to find an equivalently priced and sized battery-electric crossover among mainstream OEMs with a shorter range than the 220-mile RZ.
The RZ doesn’t exactly line up against what’s out there, though. It’s four inches shorter than the more expensive, 226-mile Audi E-tron, nine inches longer than the less expensive, 265-mile Q4 E-tron. The Lexus is five inches longer than the less expensive, 243-mile Mercedes-Benz EQB. About the closest thing to it is the Tesla Model Y, which is just two inches shorter, $5,000 less expensive, and goes 330 miles on a charge.
