Lexus vehicle research

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese global brands in market value.

History

The Lexus brand was created around the same time as Japanese rivals Nissan and Honda developed their Infiniti and Acura premium brands. The Japanese government imposed voluntary export restraints for the U.S. market, so it was more profitable for Japanese automakers to export more expensive cars to the U.S. In 1983, Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda issued a challenge to build the world's best car.

Ownership

Lexus International coordinates the worldwide operations of Toyota's luxury division from the brand's global headquarters, located in Nagoya, Aichi. Corporate entities further include the brand's Japan Sales and Marketing and global Product and Marketing Planning divisions. While organizationally separate from its parent company, Lexus International reports directly to Toyota chief executive officer Akio Toyoda.

Lineup

Lexus began with a direct challenge: in 1983, Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda told engineers to build "the world's best car," a project code-named F1 (Flagship One) that produced the original LS 400 sedan. Toyota's decision followed Honda's 1986 launch of Acura and preceded Nissan's 1989 launch of Infiniti, all three responding to the same dynamic — Japanese export restraints that made it more profitable to sell fewer, pricier cars in the U.S. rather than more cheap ones — with all three brands launching within a few years of each other to establish Japanese automakers in the American luxury segment for the first time. The LS 400's engineering-first approach carried into Lexus's current naming logic: LS, ES, and IS-badged sedans run from flagship to entry-level, RX, GX, and LX-badged SUVs mirror that same size hierarchy, and F-badged models (like the RC F and IS F) are Lexus's performance variants, built by the same Toyota Gazoo Racing-adjacent engineering group behind the brand's motorsport program. Lexus has also built hybrid powertrains into most of its lineup more thoroughly than rival luxury brands, reflecting parent Toyota's early and continued hybrid investment, with hybrid versions available across nearly every current Lexus nameplate rather than isolated to one or two models.

Sales

Global sales of Lexus vehicles reached an all-time high in 2007, with a total of 518,000. Sales decreased in subsequent years due to the effects of the 2008 recession and the Japanese tsunami of 2011. Following this, sales recovered and reached a new high of 523,000 in 2013.

Motorsport

Lexus first entered the motorsport arena in 1999 when its racing unit, Team Lexus, fielded two GS 400 race vehicles in the Motorola Cup North American Street Stock Championship touring car series. In its 1999 inaugural season, Team Lexus achieved its first victory with its sixth race at Road Atlanta.

Marketing

From its inception, Lexus has been advertised to luxury consumers using specific marketing strategies, with a consistent motif used for the marque's advertisements. Beginning in 1989, television ads were narrated by actor James Sloyan (the voice of "Mr. Lexus" until 2009), and accompanied by vehicles that performed unusual stunts onscreen.

Source: Lexus (Wikipedia)