Lexus RZ 450e electric car on sale in Malaysia, priced at over 2 billion VND

Luxury car brands are gradually expanding their product lines in the Southeast Asian market with electric car models, with Porsche and Audi being the two pioneers and recently Lexus.

In mid-2023, Lexus launched its first electric car model RZ in Malaysia. Recently, the Japanese car company announced the sale of this electric car model at a quite competitive price.

Specifically, the Lexus RZ 450e electric car has a starting price of RM 429,888 (equivalent to about VND 2.2 billion). Similar to the Vietnamese market, this country also applies preferential tax policies such as exemption of import tax, special consumption tax and sales tax on electric cars. Thus, if sold in our country, the selling price of the RZ 450e will likely not be much different.

The model measures 4,805 mm in length, 1,895 mm in width and 1,635 mm in height. The RZ 450e for the Malaysian market is equipped with a 71.4 kWh lithium-ion battery, providing a maximum range of 440 km and charging from 0% to 80% in 30 minutes with a 150 kW fast charger. Using an 11 kW charger, the car's battery can be fully charged in 6.5 hours.

The car uses two electric motors, including a 203-horsepower front-wheel motor and a 107-horsepower rear-wheel motor, for a total combined output of 308 horsepower. Thanks to that, the car can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 5.3 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 160 km/h.

The interior is upholstered in Ultrasuede leather, with a design quite similar to the gasoline-powered Lexus RX. The standard sound system is a Mark Levinson Premium with 13 speakers. Behind the steering wheel is an 8-inch multi-information screen and increased to 14.1 inches for the central entertainment screen.

Safety technology on the RZ 450e features the third-generation Lexus Safety System (LSS+), including adaptive cruise control at all speeds, Lexus Teammate Advanced Park (automatic parking assist), forward collision avoidance system (with automatic emergency braking), lane keeping assist, lane change assist with blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.

Currently, Lexus RZ has not been launched in Vietnam despite having registered for copyright ownership of the design. If sold in our country for more than 2 billion VND, this will be a formidable competitor in the luxury electric car segment with many familiar names such as Porsche Taycan (price from 4.17 billion VND) or Mercedes-Benz EQS (starting price from 4.84 billion VND).

However, the vehicle's operating range is still modest compared to the two models mentioned above. In addition, the VinFast VF8 electric vehicle, which has the same size as the RZ, is even cheaper, ranging from 1.45-1.63 billion VND including the battery.