Lexus Trademarks RZ 300e for US

New RZ300e Will Be An Important EV For Lexus In America | CarBuzz

First trademarked in Europe, it has now appeared for the US and Canadian market. According to the article, looks to be a less powerful version of the RZ 450e which has 308 hp (230 kW). Other speculative sites has said it'll resemble the same powertrain as the Solterra and or bZ4X AWD or dual 80 kW motors.

Both the RZ 450e and RZ 300e will be made on the same line as the Solterra and bZ4X so I wonder how Lexus views the wheel bolt issue. They are due to start production of the RZ 450e there so they probably have a say in what goes in their cars. I'll guess the RZ 450e won't be able to keep the MSRP under $55K while the RZ 300e maybe targeted for the new EV credit. They will have look for place to build the RZ 300e in NA somewhere if they are going to target the NA market. Toyota already has a battery factory going up in North Carolina. So the next factory reset will have to be battery EV manufacturing somewhere in NA like expand the Ontario plant. Maybe that is why it seems to be taking a long time to resolve the wheel bolt issue and their month long shutdown. Could be they are shifting their Japanese factory for Japanese and European specs only. They are looking to expand somewhere in the NA to build the Solterra and bZ4X as well as the RZ 300e.

edited to change the US requirement to North America (NA).

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Lexus decided to stick with wheel studs. They are old fashioned like that and have stuck with the old NiMH battery for their next round of hybrids, instead of the new bipolar NiMH where they still use NiMH. Look at the new 2023 UXh, it still has the NiMH battery. A uniqueness of the 2023 UXh is it's the first year to have a separate transmission cooler for its eCVT even though it doesn't have a tow rating, according to the Car Care Nut (

). The UXh is rated for 750 kg (1650 lbs) in Europe.

edited to show the newest UXh still has the NiMH battery.