This new Lexus is as rare as the LFA – and costs a lot less

Lexus Australia isn’t normally about big sales volumes, and it seems that tradition will carry on when it launches the RZ600e F Sport Performance in local showrooms, becoming the equal-rarest car from the brand ever sold here.

Confirmed today, a total of nine Lexus RZ600e F Sport Performances will be offered to Australian buyers out of the total production run of fewer than 200 cars.

For context, the last Lexus that had such a small number of imports to Australia was the famed LFA supercar, of which nine were also delivered across a multi-year period.

Priced from $135,000 before on-road costs, the electric SUV serves as the new Lexus performance flagship locally, being $30,000 dearer than the existing range-topping RZ550e F Sport.

Powered by a dual-motor system, the RZ600e produces 313kW and 537Nm, or 13kW more than the RZ550e from a tweaked delivery system, delivering a 0-100km/h claimed sprint time of 4.4 seconds, identical to its less powerful sibling.

Fed by a 77kWh battery, it has a claimed range of 420km on the WLTP lab test cycle, a drop of 40km.

Like its sibling, it also features variable torque control, allowing the front-to-rear power distribution to be adjusted between 60:40 and 0:100 while driving in a straight line, and between 80:20 and 0:100 when cornering.

F Sport Performance-specific highlights include a 20mm ride height drop, revised dampers and springs, larger 400mm ventilated disc brakes with fixed six-piston blue painted aluminium monobloc calipers at the front and 317mm ventilated discs at the rear.

Cosmetically it is fitted with 21-inch Enkei wheels in matte black, as well as a unique carbon front lip spoiler, bumper and grille, vented bonnet moulding, rear bumper, diffuser and spoiler, and side rocker and door mouldings.

Inside the cabin it features Ultrasuede upholstery front sports seats, instrument panel and door trim, and a unique shift-by-wire transmission shift knob.

It also adopts the RZ550e’s fitted with a steer-by-wire system – which sees the traditional steering shaft replaced by a motor on the steering rack, in turn directed by the driver’s inputs to the steering wheel – and ‘yoke’ style steering wheel.

This rectangular-shaped unit goes without a traditional top portion, delivering a very different driving experience to what most Lexus customers would be used to.

The only optional extra on the RZ600e F Sport Performance is Hakugin paint, adding an extra $5000.