Lexus. A formula for success
Luxury and elegance meet each other to form the name of a car brand. Guess which one? Let’s give you a hint! Take the first letters of the words “Luxury”, “Export” and “the United States”. That’s correct! Lexus! Lexus Division or briefly Lexus is not the name of an automotive company but the name of the brand itself. The cars of this brand are produced by one of the world’s car giants – Toyota Motor Corporation. Lexus is an official division of Toyota, which has been producing cars and trucks for more than 100 years. A new car comes off its conveyors every few seconds, and 6.5M Toyota cars are produced annually.
Initially, as you can guess now, Lexus aimed at the American market. And for the last 5 years, Lexus has always been the leader among luxury brands in the US by the number of cars sold. Today this brand is sold in more than 90 countries worldwide. The success story of Lexus amazes the imagination! How has this car managed to win the hearts of so many customers worldwide in such a short time since the production began? And this is despite the fact that Lexus cars are in the premium class. And also why Lexus is not much appreciated by fans of German and other European brands? Let’s try to discuss this without beautiful words and epithets. Just the facts. And the final judgment is up to you…
Brand origin
The history of the Lexus brand began in 1983. The chairman of Toyota Corporation, legendary Eiji Toyoda, expressed his idea at a secret meeting: it’s time to enter the market of luxury cars. Yes, to compete with expensive German or British cars is an impossible task. So we need to come up with something middle between budget and luxury class. And start selling in the States. Why there? First, there was a growing demand for something like this – rather affordable, but luxurious and prestigious, stuffed, and comfortable. Second, Toyota proved itself perfectly in the North American market, its cars were already popular there, but they were known mainly as cheap ones. In the USA, Toyota was associated not with cars, but with pickups. They had to offer something completely new. Eiji Toyota made his final decision to use a new name. The association with the economy segment must be eliminated! Even at the expense of Toyota brand recognition! It was a big decision.
Eiji Toyota made his final decision to use a new name. The association with the economy segment must be eliminated! Even at the expense of Toyota brand recognition! It was a big decision.
This way Toyota’s top-secret F1 Project appeared, developing the first car of the new Lexus brand. Attentive to parts, the Japanese thought over all the aspects of the future car. They started with the name of the brand. 219 options were offered. Everybody liked Alexis, but it looked like the name of a character of the once-popular Dynasty series, so the name was remade into Lexus. Either it played the role of Luxury EXport United States, or really combined luxury and elegance… This is still a mystery! Anyway, Toyota claims that the word “Lexus” does not have a special meaning, it’s simply easy to pronounce and conveys well the image of luxury and technology.
Toyota claims that the word ‘Lexus’ does not have a special meaning, it’s simply easy to pronounce and conveys well the image of luxury and technology.
Toyota has already had the experience of successful models if not luxury, then at least close to it in terms of characteristics, the class – sports Toyota Supra and luxury Toyota Cressida. Both had rear-wheel drive and powerful 7M-GE/7M-GTE engines. So it was decided to make a new Lexus on their basis. The history of Lexus began with the LS400 model, presented at the motor show in LA on January 2, 1988. It had a unique design and a new 4-L V8 engine, powerful and quiet, well-equipped interior, excellent build quality, and – most importantly – low cost. In terms of price, the new Lexus was roughly the same as the mid-size Mercedes-Benz and BMW models, although in all its characteristics it was similar to full-size cars of these brands. Right after the release, the LS400 became so popular that it received many large awards.
The range was quickly expanded - there were ES330 on the basis of Toyota Windom, IS200, and IS300 - compact sports models with rear-drive, the analog - Toyota Altezza. Then came the LX470 SUV - aka Toyota Land Cruiser. Then a sedan GS - in Japan, his brother became Toyota Aristo. The second in the world hybrid off-road vehicle of mass production was also Lexus - model RX (the first was Ford Escape, released in summer 2004). It’s worth mentioning and SC300/400 (Toyota Soarer in Japan) is the first coupe of the Lexus brand, which appeared in America. And its second generation, SC430, was the first car with a folding roof for Toyota. Lexus was the first in the world to invent a luxury-class hybrid – rear-wheel-drive sedan Lexus GS 450h. Sales of this model started in Europe in 2006.
Lexus was the first in the world to invent a luxury-class hybrid – rear-wheel-drive sedan Lexus GS 450h.
As originally conceived, the US market was the main one for new models. Even in Japan, Lexus began to be sold only since 2005 that did not prevent the Japanese to mold Lexus logos on similar models of Toyota. By the way, until 2003, all of its cars Lexus produced only in Japan on a high-tech and computerized Japanese factory Tahara. And only RX350 for the American market since 2004 began to assemble in Canada, in the city of Cambridge. And this is the first Lexus factory outside of Japan.
The main formula for success
Lexus cars are not only luxury and prestige. This reliability, according to the American analytical company JD Power and Associates, is one of the highest in the world!
And also Lexus has been known for its luxurious service and maximum comfort even for the most fastidious customers. Snack and beverage racks, business centers with noise insulation, computers and faxes, and maintenance boxes themselves have large transparent windows so that car owners can watch the work of technicians if they want to.
So what is the secret of the success of Lexus? High quality – one. Reliability – two. High comfort level – three. Recognizable style – four. Quality customer service – five. Variability – there are also diesel and hybrid versions – six. Relatively low cost – Lexus offers the cars of the same level tens thousand US dollars cheaper than competitors – Mercedes-Benz and BMW – and it’s good enough for all the ten counts!
Lexus offers the cars of the same level tens thousand US dollars cheaper than competitors – Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Lexus is criticized for this :) because its competitors don’t like this :) The former head of BMW claimed that it’s impossible to work with such a strategy in Europe. In Europe, cars of low prices are never associated with concepts of luxury and prestige, therefore Lexus could not have any success there, unlike the USA. Some experts even say that unless Lexus raises the cost of its own products, it will not achieve global success. But we know that it’s not the case :)
Initial Quality Reports say that the quality of European brands is falling, while Lexus, on the contrary, is taking higher and higher places in the rating. And after the appearance of the concept cars LF series, there is a great chance to turn Lexus into a global luxury brand. And some of its new models, as they say, will be sold at a price of about $100,000, which will make them real rivals of their European ‘classmates’.
Stephen Spielberg, a big fan of Lexus and the owner of LX470 who has filmed Lexus in the ‘Minority Report’ about the year of 2054.
The Lexus division has long been a serious player in the global market. The history of the Lexus brand continues. Lexus has everything ahead of it! It’s confirmed by numerous awards, the first places in automobile ratings, and the positive responses of motorists. The future is with Lexus!
It’s confirmed even by Stephen Spielberg, a big admirer of Lexus and the owner of LX470 who has filmed Lexus in the “Minority Report”. It was a fuel-cell-powered super-concept Lexus of 2054 protected from the most destructive effects. And we believe that this future is soon to come!
