Lexus LS400 - 1989
Toyota Motor Company launched their luxury car brand 'Lexus' in 1989. They formed a separate sales channel to deliver the kind of sales and service experience to impress the most particular of customers.
Their first car, the XF10 LS400 launched that year was a further testimony to the dedicated focus of the team in delivering excellence. The basic specification was impressive enough - 4.0 L V8 DOHC TwinCam, producing 190 kW. The magic was in the attention to detail of every part and function. The car was near silent, smooth and refined. Everything worked perfectly, consistently and with finesse.
Their were many early critics of both the brand experiment and the car. When the vehicle was disassembled by competitors, they found exactly what was stated - near perfect execution of every detail.
Further models were added to the lineup over time - each with the same ethos, if not the near perfection of the top-line LS. The 'experiment' did, however, force all other competitors to lift their game.
Nissan followed suit with their own luxury brand 'Infiniti', Honda with 'Acura' and Mazda was to follow with 'Amati' - the Asian financial recession arrived before that plan could be executed.
Lexus was by far the most successful, and still sets quality benchmarks for its products. This can be seen in the US JD Power quality surveys.
Lexus LS400 - 1989
Toyota Motor Company launched their luxury car brand 'Lexus' in 1989. They formed a separate sales channel to deliver the kind of sales and service experience to impress the most particular of customers.
Their first car, the XF10 LS400 launched that year was a further testimony to the dedicated focus of the team in delivering excellence. The basic specification was impressive enough - 4.0 L V8 DOHC TwinCam, producing 190 kW. The magic was in the attention to detail of every part and function. The car was near silent, smooth and refined. Everything worked perfectly, consistently and with finesse.
Their were many early critics of both the brand experiment and the car. When the vehicle was disassembled by competitors, they found exactly what was stated - near perfect execution of every detail.
Further models were added to the lineup over time - each with the same ethos, if not the near perfection of the top-line LS. The 'experiment' did, however, force all other competitors to lift their game.
Nissan followed suit with their own luxury brand 'Infiniti', Honda with 'Acura' and Mazda was to follow with 'Amati' - the Asian financial recession arrived before that plan could be executed.
Lexus was by far the most successful, and still sets quality benchmarks for its products. This can be seen in the US JD Power quality surveys.