Lexus wants to make an electric supercar with a manual gearbox

Here are some fresh photos of the electric supercar Lexus plans to put into production before the end of this decade. To be a spiritual successor to the V10-powered LFA, the new car could come with a manual gearbox – a very unusual move for an EV.

Revealed as a concept alongside a range of other future electric Lexus cars in 2021, the model is known for now as the Electrified Sport. The company says it plans to launch a production version at some point before 2030 and, this being an electric supercar, outlandish performance will come as standard.

Lexus says the car will become a “halo sports car” for the brand, and it’ll accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in “around two seconds.” But what’s more interesting is how Lexus says it’s also working on producing electric cars with manual gearboxes.

As you will doubtless know by now, electric cars tend to only have one gear and there are no changes to be made. The Porsche Taycan’s two-speed gearbox is an exception, but changing manually between the gears isn’t possible. Lexus recognises how some drivers might still want the engagement and enjoyment a manual gearbox can provide, even after internal combustion cars have been outlawed.

The company says it is working on a solution to achieve this, adding that the project “has progressed to focused development using a research prototype based on the UX 300e compact SUV, equipped with a gear lever and a clutch pedal.”

Takashi Watanabe, chief engineer of the Lexus Electrified division, said: “From the outside, this vehicle is as quiet as any other BEV [battery electric vehicle]. But the driver is able to experience all the sensations of a manual transmission vehicle. It is a software-based system, so it can be programmed to reproduce the driving experience of different vehicle types, letting the driver choose their preferred mapping.”

As for the LFA successor itself, Lexus says it plans “to build electrified cars with an authentic performance dimension”. It has previously said how the car could have a cruising range of more than 430 miles, and that “a production model may use new solid-state battery technology to achieve authentic high performance.”

The company added that future EVs should maintain 90 percent of their battery capacity after 10 years of use.

By 2030, Lexus plans to offer an EV in all market segments, and it will only sell fully-electric cars in Europe, North America and China, before ending all internal combustion vehicle production in 2035.