JACK RIX Editor-in-chief @jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com
Separating my inner driving enthusiast from my inner inquisitiveness isn’t straightforward. On the one hand I’m deflated by the prospect of an electric LFA – the original’s free revving V10 is so viciously debauched that it defines that car entirely. To try to replicate even a fraction of its character with a pure-EV powertrain is to set yourself up for humiliation. On the other hand, you know Lexus wouldn’t even consider reusing the badge without stretching technological boundaries to breaking point. As suspected, promises of lighter, denser solid state batteries, simulated manual gearboxes and over 1,000bhp are being bandied about... and inevitably my curiosity is bouncing off the limiter.
And it’s not just Lexus grappling with whether resurrecting and reimagining a performance icon for the electric age is worth it. Mazda’s approach to a spiritual RX-7 successor is highly appealing: powering the wheels with e-motors, but topping up the batteries with a signature rotary engine... and then draping it all in a body so taut and sensuous it makes me want to do bad things.
Then there’s the Toyota FT-Se – sounds like a sandwich toaster – which is more interested in toasting rear tyres. The MR2 it evokes doesn’t have the same cult following as the others, but I’m booking front row seats to find out if Toyota can make a compact lightweight EV sports car actually work, and outdo the electric Porsche Boxster and Cayman coming down the pipe
