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Lexus Cars

There are no Lexus dealers in Japan. The name Lexus was created specifically in 1987 to give Toyota a second marketing channel in the United States.

The Japanese company, despite a name for reliability, found it hard to make inroads to the luxury market, dominated by German, British and American names.  So they invented a new name, possibly the first example of badge engineering by a Japanese company.

The first car to wear the Lexus badge in the States was an upmarket version of the Camry V6. The Aristo and Majesta models were launched as Lexus LS 400 and GS 300 in 1998.

Despite doubts about the name he car's quality shone through and the strategy worked.The method  was quickly copied by Honda with 'Acura' and Nissan with 'Infinity'. 

In the States the Lexus image has now been diluted slightly by a re-badged version of the Land Cruiser.

The Lexus name came to the UK in 1990, with a single model, the LS 400. Toyota's designers aimed to emulate the very best of European automotive engineering. The 32-valve 4.0-litre V8 matched to a electronically-controlled four-speed automatic follows the BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz tradition of retaining rear-wheel drive. The LS 400 has been improved throughout its life, but the car retains essentially its original appearance (to many eyes it is so close to a Merc it should wear a three pointed badge). Body fit and finish is still among the best in the worlde, and they have established a name for exceptional reliability and longevity. 

As in the USA, Lexus dealer are run as a separate operation from the Toyota side of the business. .

A new smaller model, the IS200 was launched 1999. Some aspects of its looks were a matter of taste but engineering was to the usual standard. With a 300% increase in sales in 1999 behind it and new LS430 and RX300  launched in late 2000, this is an almost text-book example of how to make badge engineering work.