Lexus

Lexus - a division of Toyota, producing a model of class "luxury" for the U.S. market and Europe (of course, left-hand drive). The word "lexus" in its sound is similar to the word "luxury". It is this word and its derivatives - "luxurious", "luxury car" and so on - is described by the entire history of company. This is not surprising, since the original purpose of establishment of the company was the release of the Lexus and luxury car, expensive, luxurious and beautiful.
We can not say that this idea was so new and original, because at the time of the company, or rather, its very origin of the concept, this segment of the automotive market has been long and well populated by famous European and American brands such as BMW, Mercedes- Benz, Jaguar.
However, the Japanese are not confused - in August 1983 at a secret meeting of the Board of Directors of Toyota's chairman Eiji Toyoda (Eiji Toyoda) announced the idea, which could be briefly described as follows: "to challenge the best cars the world." By that time, Toyota has already stood firmly on his feet as the world-renowned manufacturer of reliable, affordable, quality cars, and mass popularity that did not have to prove it.
But with the luxury and prestige of this already well-formed image is not bred, so Toyota decided to conquer the selected sector of automobile market with a new name. This brand became Lexus.
However, the birth of the idea to its final implementation took several years, decided to develop a new direction, the Japanese came to the whole thoroughly and carefully. First group was established in 1400 designers and engineers, to whom was given the task to create a luxury car that brings the most pleasure from driving, he should surpass the best cars in Europe and thus cheaper.
Translate these requirements into practice the project was intended to F1. F1 breaks down like so: F - flagship, that is, the flagship, and the number 1 means luxury sedan of the highest order, the first of their kind. Chief engineers of the project were Seidzi Dzimbo (Shoiji Jimbo) and Ichiro Suzuki (Ichiro Suzuki), and his own development began in 1984. A year later, in May 1985, the developers went on a kind of "intelligence" to the United States. After all, for the U.S. market and created the first car Lexus, which - looking ahead - not quite turned out like all other products of the Japanese automotive industry.
Headed Dzimbo team conducted surveys of focus groups (with potential future customers) and dealers of the largest U.S. cities (New York, San Francisco, Miami, Houston) in order to get a clear picture of the preferences of U.S. buyers. Along with these market research team of five designers working on the design of future first-born Lexus at Calty Design, American Toyota design studio in California. And in July of the same in 1985 built the first working prototypes of the 450 - Lexus LS400, the fruit of thousands of experts in various fields.
In 1986, the LS400 was a lot of road tests - and the German autobahn, and the snows of Canada and Sweden, and on twisty mountain serpentines. Test results are improving the management system and suspension. May 1987 - after the presentation of eight variants of the appearance of the guide finally argues in the final design of the body LS400. And 2 January 1988, after more than one year development, Lexus as a brand and logo were presented to the public at the Auto Show in Los Angeles.
This was followed by debuts Lexus car dealerships in other U.S.. True, shows limited scrolling advertising videos, general information and a demonstration sketch cars. In May of that year were called 80 dealers selected for future sales of automobiles Lexus. The first of these was the Lexus of Columbus, Ohio.
Finally, in January 1989, at the Auto Show in Detroit premiere of two models of Lexus - LS400 (by the way, LS400 stands for luxury sedan, and the 400 is a 4-liter engine) and ES250 (ES - executive sedan, 2.5-liter engine) . A day later they were on display at a motor show in Los Angeles. In May, LS400 goes into production - it starts production at the plant toytovskom Tahara, and in September, LS400 and ES250 go on sale, for the first month of 2919 copies was sold in 1216 and LS400 cars ES250.
LS400 its characteristics could easily compete with contemporary European luxury sedans: finished leather and high quality polymer interior, sound system from Pioneer and Nakamichi, high speed performance (thanks to a specially modified for the LS400 4-liter engine toyotovskomu 1UZ-FE), and other advantages, through which he received the highest scores in the press.
For example, in January 1990 Car & Driver magazine named it the best car in February Motoring Press Association awarded him the title of best foreign car, and in July LS400 won first place in the rankings J. D. Power and Associates (a large company engaged in the independent market research and surveys of customers).
In the same year Lexus LS400 has started selling in the UK and Canada, where he also received high scores of consumers (by the way, for the UK and some countries drive on the left cars Lexus manufactured with right hand drive). By October 1990 sales reached 63 thousand Lexus vehicles.
In May 1991, Lexus unveiled a new model - Sports Coupe SC400 (SC - sport coupe). Due to the same engine that was mounted on the LS400, SC400 picked up speed of 100 km / h in 6.9 seconds, and its design was developed in the same studio Calty Design. SC400 is equipped with 4-speed automatic transmission and is also available in versions with a 3-liter engine (SC300, which appeared later, in August 1991).
Incidentally, in Japan, right-hand drive version of the model became known as the Toyota Soarer, LS400 and an analogue in the model range was the model of Toyota Celsior. SC400 coupe first went on sale in the U.S. market in June 1991. Another addition to the lineup - sedan ES300 (analog Toyota Windom), replacing the ES250 - was produced in September of that year. Then, in 1991, Lexus has improved the model LS400 (the body was completed side rails for added security) and got several first places in various rankings J. D. Power and Associates.
1992: January saw the awards, which were ES300 SC400 and magazines from Automobile Magazine and Car & Driver. At the same time, Lexus achieves what must be willing and its founders: the volume of sales in the U.S., he overtakes its competitors - BMW and Mercedes-Benz - and becomes the leading importer of luxury cars. Running a little ahead, we can also note that only one in 1992 in the United States has sold 92 890 cars Lexus, which can be called a very good indicator for the brand, whose history is counted only five years.
In February 1992, SC400 was imported car of the year in the U.S. magazine Motor Trend and the Motoring Press Association, and in May was named the LS400 car with the fewest problems after three months of operation in the rankings J. D. Power and Associates. In July, the same ranking Lexus has become the number one brand in the degree of customer satisfaction. September - debut an updated LS400, which was made about 50 changes, many of them have been made to the wishes of dealers and customers.
In January next, 1993, the debut of a new model - GS300. The appearance of the sports luxury sedan (that's him briefly described the manufacturer) created a famous car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, one year later GS300 has been shown in Europe at the Frankfurt Motor Show. In March, American Automobile Association (AAA) calls SC300 LS400 and the best cars in 1993 in its price range, in June, The Robb Report assigns the title of best model LS400 imported car, and in July the third consecutive Lexus ranked first in the ranking J. D. Power and Associates.
In 1994, Lexus continues to collect awards and titles, even wrote about him such a publication as Popular Science, recognizing the best new LS400 year. Apparently, the novelty was considered the second-generation LS400, put on sale in November 1994 and passing through a few changes in design. In addition, Lexus has won the fourth consecutive year in the ranking J. D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction level. But this was not the limit - in the next, in 1995, Lexus won the same victory for the fifth time in succession - an unprecedented fact.
In addition to this victory, there were many awards and titles, but a celebration of Lexus as a brand was overshadowed entered in May 1995, the U.S. Department of Commerce proposal to establish 100%-GOVERNMENTAL duties on certain models of luxury cars made in Japan, in particular, on the whole range of Lexus. The introduction of these tariffs threatened the loss of nearly 8000 people employed in enterprises, in one way or another connected with the Lexus. But in June, the U.S. and Japan reached an agreement whereby the impending trade war has been and is not broke.
1996 began with the appearance of the first SUV in the lineup Lexus - LX450. It was a luxury version of the Toyota Land Cruiser in the body of 80-series, "Beauty and the Beast in a bottle" - the indisputable advantages offroadnye Land Cruiser Plus leksusovskaya luxury. With this combination of Lexus has taken possession of manufacturers of SUVs and soon won and there, becoming the leader in sales in just two months. By the number of cars sold Lexus surpassed even the Range Rover.
In addition to this victory, in January, said a Lexus milestone in its history, how to achieve a mark of 500 thousand cars sold. In April, Lexus and Coach, a well-known manufacturer of high quality leather products, announce their collaboration on future limited edition models ES300, and in July the magazine Automobile Magazine named the LS400 in 24 of the most important vehicles century.
In September, the public was shown a second generation ES300, get a longer body (length has increased by 6 cm), a smooth shape, with new luxury options, and thus a much lower price than its predecessor. In December, the new ES300 has received the award «Top Car» from AAA in the price range of 25 to 30 thousand dollars.
In January 1997, at the International Auto Show in Detroit, Lexus concept car exhibited HPS (High Performance Sedan), the predecessor of the new generation model GS300. HPS was equipped with a 4-liter V8 engine with a system VVT-i. In February, at the auto show in Chicago was shown another concept from Lexus - SLV (Sport Luxury Vehicle); it embodies his vision of a company car, which combines comfort and luxury sedan road characteristics midsize SUV.
Later, in March of that year, the company announced that this concept goes into production under the name RX300 (in Japan - Toyota Harrier); beginning of its production had been scheduled for the first half of 1998. And in September there was a significant upgrade to the model range: SC400/300 been restyled, re-designs, and new options for LS400, and, besides, was released the second generation of the sedan GS400/300. All of the above models are now also equipped with engines with toyotovskoy system VVT-i.
Updated GS400/300 immediately received favorable reviews press in October Consumers Digest calls it "the best buy" in the category of luxury cars, Popular Science awards the title of "best news" and Motor Trend - the title of best import car of the year. In November GS400 is a leader in the price range of 40 to 50 thousand dollars according to AAA.
Completed in 1997 for another company record for the number of sales (97,593 cars for 1997 - 20% more than were sold in the previous year, 1996), and another novelty in the lineup: the International Auto Show in Los Angeles in December , Lexus introduced the public LX470 - which replaced the LX450 luxury SUV, the Toyota Land Cruiser analogue bodies in 100 series.
In March 1998, LX470 starts to be sold through a network of 147 American dealers Lexus; with him to start selling the previously announced RX300, which already allows the company to declare its own line of luxury SUVs. Then, in March, Lexus announced its sponsorship of the upcoming big U.S. tour of the famous musician, Eric Clapton.
Sales rose steadily (to which many contributed, for example, the appearance RX300) - only for April 1998 was sold 12 364 cars Lexus. And in May, for example, 14 620 were sold in July - 14 673 in August - 16949.
Lexus surpassed sales in the U.S. such famous brands as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Cadillac and Lincoln, standing at the period in time, the leading brand in the U.S. luxury car market. These market to achieve an active interspersed with awards from market experts, for example, received seventh consecutive title in the ranking leader J. D. Power and Associates for customer satisfaction.
In October, the magazine Motor Trend, appropriating the title of the car, in different categories, called the RX300 SUV, the best sports, it is noteworthy that this category (Sport / Utility of the Year) journal established for the first time, that is directly associated with the hugely popular RX300.
January 1999 - another innovation from Lexus: compact sport-sedan IS200, shown in Detroit (the Japanese equivalent - Toyota Altezza). In March of that year, the fifth year in a row Lexus leads the ranking J. D. Power and Associates, showing the fewest problems after five years of operation of the vehicle.
Then, in spring 1999, IS200 began selling in Europe. And in September, said Lexus memorable date - 10 years from the date of sale of the first car of its brand in the U.S..
Two months later, in November, the company celebrated another anniversary - in the United States has sold one million car Lexus. In December, summing up the year, the company was convinced that we can celebrate yet, and that U.S. sales are growing for the fourth consecutive year, in addition, for the year 1999 more than twice increased European sales. The lion's share of vehicles sold per year in Europe Lexus cars was a new model IS200.
Beginning in 2000, as has become customary, it was noted updates. In January, the Los Angeles Lexus demonstrates a variation on a theme quickly became popular IS200 - IS300, and put up in Detroit, the reincarnation of the legendary company's model for LS400 - LS430. The new flagship of was equipped with the latest technology and design: a navigation system, DVD, leather and walnut wood in the cabin, engine V8 volume of 4300 cc, 280 hp and 417 Nm of torque, acceleration to 100 km / h in 6.7 second, 5-speed automatic transmission. Everything else, LS430 had the lowest drag coefficient in its class.
In April 2000, at an auto show in New York City Lexus announced the imminent appearance of the model SC430. In the same month the company announced that by 2003 RX300 will be available at car factory of Toyota in Canada (before collecting your Lexus cars in Japan only). In June, IS300 goes on sale in August, Lexus became the first U.S. import luxury brand, selling over 20,000 copies of their cars for the month in September to replace the GS400 model comes GS430. In October, went into a series of LS430. Results in 2000 showed that at this time (for the fifth consecutive year) Lexus has increased its sales, ahead of all other luxury brands in the automotive market in the U.S..
In January 2001, Toyota announced that the engines and suspension models for RX300 will be manufactured at its plant in Buffalo. At the same time at the Detroit auto show were shown models such as the IS300 SportCross, IS300 Manual Transmission and already preparing for an early start in the production of SC430. IS300 SportCross equipped with such an option, as the buttons on the steering wheel gear, allowing manual without the help of automatic transmissions, manipulate the gears. IS300 Manual Transmission, as the name implies, instead of an automatic transmission equipped with manual transmission.
In March, started selling SC430; this time orders for it have already been booked until the end of the year. The design of this hardtop that can in 25 seconds without any effort from the driver to turn into an open compartment, was developed in the Lexus European Design and Development Centre on the French Riviera. In August and IS300 SportCross IS300 Manual Transmission went on sale, and in October began selling fully updated third generation ES300 - more luxurious, more spacious, giving more comfort, style and driving pleasure.
The new SC430 has not only become more powerful and more luxurious - the compartment he turned into a coupe-cabriolet with a rigid folding roof. For the first time in cars Lexus - high-class audio system from Mark Levinson.The new SC430 has not only become more powerful and more luxurious - the compartment he turned into a coupe-cabriolet with a rigid folding roof. For the first time in cars Lexus - high-class audio system from Mark Levinson.
In 2002, Lexus has its first official dealer in Russia - it was the company "Lexus-Business Car" in Moscow (one year of authorized dealers in the capital has two). In June of that year the U.S. went out on the screens of the next blockbuster of a famous master of the cinematic genre - Steven Spielberg. The film was called «Minority Report» (in Russian cinemas - "Minority Report"), and a car for the main character is developed by Lexus. Red concept that runs on fuel cells become a significant element of the video.
In addition to this introduction to the field of art cinema, Lexus continued to develop new versions of its production models - appeared at the Paris Motor Show IS200 SportCross, equipped with a 2-liter engine with a system VVT-i.