The Lexus LF-Z Concept is all about the driver

It’s a concept, so don’t go asking your Lexus dealer about buying one just yet. But as a symbol of what Lexus has in store it’s a real pointer to future models – not just in its all-electric drivetrain but in its distinctive design, technology and modern take on luxury. And it is all envisioned to arrive four years from now.

All up then this is the biggest Lexus news for years. Japan’s top premium brand might have put the hybrid into luxury motoring, starting with the RX400h 16 years ago. But in recent times it has seen the likes of Jaguar, Audi, Mercedes and BMW – let alone Tesla – steal a march on the battery-electric front. In the UK at least it has only one pure-electric model, the UX300e, launched last year.

Now Lexus plans to launch 20 electrified models by 2025, some still hybrids (for not all countries have committed to ban them like the UK) but with more emphasis on what Lexus says is an accelerated programme of battery-electric newcomers like this concept. The future electric line-up will include models from sports cars to chauffeur limousines, it says, and put the company on a path to carbon-neutrality by 2050.

But today it’s all about the LF-Z Electrified, a 4.9m long, 2.1-tonne five-door with dual electric motors and clever new all-wheel-drive system. It can dish out 0-62mph in 3.0 seconds, a top speed limited to 124mph and range of 373 miles (600km) – good but increasingly what any manufacturer of electric cars in this class will say.

It’s all based on bespoke battery-electric car architecture, Lexus’s first. The 90kWh battery packs are built in under the floor as part of the structure, like all the best BEVs, in the cause of a low centre of gravity and platform rigidity.

The twin motors produce a combined 536PS (400kW) with 700Nm (518lb ft) of torque, all of it metered out to individual wheels via what Lexus calls Direct4. This controls front and rear drive wheels independently, allowing combinations of front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive to suit the situation.

That sounds doable, perhaps unlike another of the LF-Z Electrified’s claims to fame: its steer-by-wire system that does without any mechanical link with the front wheels. Steer-by-wire is nothing new in concept cars and while the carmakers want it, the safety legislators take a different view.

And the looks? Well, you couldn’t really mistake this for anything other than a Lexus (or Toyota) with its profusion of wild slashes, origami creases and intersecting lines.

At the front the “spindle” grille design of recent years has been overtaken by more of a snow plough aesthetic, while the extreme rake of the windscreen leads seamlessly into a smooth roofline, topped off by a dorsal fin. From the rear the exaggerated black cooling aperture gives something of a wide-mouthed frog look.

The detailing is super-cool and there is clearly plenty here that is destined for production. Buyers expect, and approve of, Lexuses as distinctive and modern as this and the LF-Z Electrified surely delivers.

What category do you think it falls into? Increasingly this is a spurious question, and Lexus – which has made a name for itself with SUVs – certainly doesn’t label it as such, as others might. SUV now no longer means what it used to and in any case the LF-Z Electrified is quite a shorty at 1,600mm.

The LF-Z is even more distinctive and modern on the inside, though perhaps pandering rather more to concept car fantasy. But we approve of the aims that lie behind it all: more focus on the driver, good forward visibility, logical control groupings and better ergonomics. Lexus says its aim is to replicate the control oneness a horse and its rider enjoys.

Signature Lexus luxury touches include a panoramic roof of dimmable electrochromic glass, reclining rear seats with massage function and top-notch Mark Levinson audio.

There is – of course – an augmented reality head-up display, a very funky steering wheel and plenty of AI to do the thinking for you with a virtual assistant always lurking in the background to help out when needed. Or, in Lexus-speak, to “add colour to your life as a lifestyle concierge”.

It might have taken Lexus a while to move from hybrids to battery power, but it is clearly embracing the opportunities the big switch to full electrification offers. Design, engineering, sustainability ­– even the Lexus logo is in line for a refresh as part of what the company calls this once-in-a-century transformation. That’s good going for a company that only came into being in 1989!