History of Lexus - picture special

Since its inauguration, Lexus has aimed to bring the fight to stronger premium brand names, for example Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Audi and BMW, offering marginally cheaper alternatives to luxury saloons and crossover SUVs, along with the courageous Lexus LFA supercar during economic turmoil.  Lexus started life as Toyota’s luxury division, for that reason the marque has developed a reputation through the years like a manufacturer that epitomises top quality, reliability and strong finishes in customer satisfaction surveys. But where did all of it begin? In 1983, then-Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda summoned a highly secret, emergency meeting. Tea and biscuits were put aside when Toyoda quizzed fellow company executives : “Can we produce a luxury vehicle to challenge the world’s best? ”What resulted was the F1 project – not to become confused using the pinnacle of motor racing – but ‘Flagship One’, involving painstaking levels of market research and concentrate groups on luxury car buyers. The end result spawned the Lexus (a mixture of luxury and elegance ) LS400 saloon in 1989. Riding a wave of clever television and print advertising, the LS400 made its debut at this year’s North American (Detroit ) Auto Show and proved to become an instant hit with punters.  The LS400 had the need to be. An extensive resource of 60 designers, 24 engineering teams, 450 prototypes, 2. 7 million kilometres of road testing and greater than $1 billion went into developing the flagship saloon, featuring a unique design that shared little in common with previous Toyotas. Once the LS400 finally touched down in Europe in 1990, it was eventually applauded to its high-quality cabin, superb refinement, less drag coefficient more enhanced value when compared with its rivals. The punchy 4. 0-litre V8 motor, developing 256bhp, also gave the LS400 a better top speed compared to the BMW 735i, at 160mph.  Lexus succeeded in shaking up rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz, whose sales took a big hit following the LS400’s trumpeting market entrance. The Japanese marque shifted over 165, 000 units from the LS400 worldwide and also the premium saloon car gained a robust reputation to its capcapacity to clock up well over 200, 000 miles with proper maintenance.  In 1993, Lexus launched the GS300 saloon to sit below the LS400 and go head-to-head using the BMW 5-series. Penned by famed designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, the GS300 (standing for Grand Saloon ) was introduced having a 3. 0-litre inline-six engine, rear-wheel drive and independent double wishbone suspension. 3 years later the car maker unveiled its first SUV, the LX450, with different revised Toyota Land Cruiser 100 by 1998 the firm had broken straight into the increasingly popular crossover market with the discharge from the RX300.  Into the millennium and Lexus seized the chance to go into the compact executive saloon market and do battle using the Mercedes-Benz C-class and BMW 3-series. The corporate introduced its choice of IS saloons, and though it was eventually seen being an alternative, it didn‘t sufficiently unsettle its established rivals inside the compact executive segment. Lexus experienced a crucial year in 2005. The firm launched the world’s first production premium hybrid SUV as the RX400h and separated from parent company Toyota, while expanding into its home country for the very first time and emerging markets for example China and South America. Sales particularly began to surge in South East Asia, the UK and throughout Australasia. Not somethat you shy far from taking gambles, Lexus announced a brand new F-marque performance division in 2007, with Mercedes-Benz’s AMG and BMW’s M divisions resolutely in its sights. The very first Lexus to don the F nameplate, which pays homage towards the Fuji Speedway and stands for Flagship, was the often forgotten Lexus IS-F saloon.  Aimed in the BMW M3, Audi RS4 and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, the IS-F was powered using a 5. 0-litre V8 kicking out 416bhp. However, despite being mated to some ground-breaking eight-speed automatic transmission and covering 0-62mph in 4. 8sec, the IS-F failed in order to make an impression over its superior German rivals.  Arguably, Lexus’s finest moment came in 2009, once the Japanese marque heroically launched the LFA supercar amid a worldwide financial crisis and economic uncertainty.  Costing an eye-watering £343, 000 the two-seater LFA supercar experienced a piercing 552bhp 4. 8-litre V10 positioned as far back inside the frontal engine bay as you can, to obtain a 48 per cent and 52 per cent front-to-rear weight distribution. The carbonfibre monocoque tub kept the kerb weight pegged at 1480kg, which helped the Lexus LFA sprint from 0-62mph in 3. 7sec and onto 202mph, all of the while possessing an intoxicating 9400rpm redline. In 2010, Lexus launched a good more exclusive version – the LFA Nürburgring Edition – with only 50 units produced when compared with the 500 of the initial LFA. It flaunted a power hike as much as 563bhp, re-calibrated gearshifts, lightweight alloy wheels and a big fixed rear wing. The car became the fifth-fastest production car at that time to lap the infamous track which bears its name, when it completed the notorious Nordschleife in 7min 14. 64sec. With Lexus sticking to some naturally aspirated V8 motor to its forthcoming RC-F performance coupé, and expanding its choice of hybrid vehicles using the updated CT200h and new RC300h models, can the premium Japanese car maker’s “pursuit of perfection” place the brand on level-pegging terms using its European rivals? We can’t wait to see. Aaron Smith History of Lexus - picture special