The Lexus Story
Behind closed doors
It all began in August 1983 when a group of visionary automotive executives met to initiate an ambitious quest. They set out to build a luxury car that would challenge conventional thinking in both luxury and performance. The Lexus dream was born.
After that meeting, in late 1984, several young project engineers met in a resort hotel in Hakone, Japan. Each journeyed to the meeting in the reigning luxury performance cars of the day. Once there, they devised the benchmarks for high speed stability, acceleration, cabin noise and dynamics, which their new Lexus brand had to surpass.
The aspiration for perfection
Right from the beginning, the planning committee laid down strict performance criteria for their new luxury car. At the time, the ideals they set out would have eclipsed those of the world's best cars. This new car they dreamed of was to achieve over 150 mph (250 km/hr), return 22.5 miles per gallon (10.5 l/100km), noise levels must be under 60 decibels at 60 mph (96 km/hr) and display a low drag coefficient of .29. Such figures were at first deemed to be almost impossible to achieve in the one car, even by the ambitious Lexus planning committee itself.
It was also around this time that a name was formulated for this luxury brand. The name 'LEXUS' was created, which derived from "Luxury EXport to the US".
Exploring the conventions of luxury
The Lexus journey was a quest to discover new realms of exhilarating motoring. It began not in clinical engineering workshops, but in the bastions of luxury living. Twenty-four design and engineering teams set out around the world to truly understand the tastes and qualities of the potential Lexus owner.
Design teams spent 6 months living privileged lifestyles. They immersed themselves in waterfront homes in Laguna Beach. They explored America's upscale shopping centres, exclusive country clubs and golf courses. Such insights helped sculpt the design and engineering of the very first Lexus, the LS 400.
The Lexus quest for continuous improvement didn't stop there. In later years, Lexus designers and engineers again set off in pursuit of luxury lifestyles. They travelled to the Cote d'Azur in the south of France where they explored luxury villas. They studied the architecture and craftsmanship that graced the staterooms of multi million dollar luxury yachts. Across Europe, engineers scrutinised the practices of the world's finest watchmakers. Such journeys were deemed necessary to better understand luxury and craftsmanship not simply in an automotive sense, but in the real world.
Lexus cars exposed to the worst mother nature could throw at them
Engineers left the premium luxury cars of the 80s in the desert of Arizona for many months, to observe how they deteriorated when exposed to the elements.
Lessons learned in these real life tests then inspired Lexus engineers to go even further. They developed a new type of rear window glass, to protect the interior from UV deterioration. The thickness of chrome plating was increased, to resist corrosion. Vehicle bodies were coated with 6 coats of paint, to create a paint coat much thicker with a more enduring lustre. Countless other innovations were created, in the continuous pursuit of perfection.
A 4.3 million kilometre journey
An investment of $US5 billion dollars was ultimately spent on the development of the very first Lexus. Enlisting the talents of 2,300 technicians and 1,400 engineers, the quest travelled 4.3 million test kilometres and developed 450 prototypes. Over 100 prototypes were crashed in safety testing alone.
Highly refined body design
The body designs of the very first Lexus prototypes were honed in the same wind tunnels used to test the 298 km/hr bullet trains. Their upper limits were tested at high speed on German autobahns.
To help achieve better fuel mileage, prototypes were exposed to more than 50 wind tunnel tests. Microphones were embedded into the car to locate wind noise. This led to significant improvements in the design of the front end and the streamlining of the under body.
Testing times
This luxury car, ultimately destined for a pampered existence, was first tested in anything but privileged conditions.
Prototypes were exposed to the searing heat of the Australian outback, the extreme cold of the Arctic Circle and the Italian Alps, the humidity of the Ivory Coast, the blizzards of Queenstown NZ, and the frozen Nordic winters of Sweden. A prototype was left in the baking sun and shifting sands of the Sahara desert for a full year. All this, because Lexus believed that true luxury is not a superficial gloss that quickly fades.
To scrutinise performance dynamics, a special test track was set up in a remote location of Japan. Every kind of road condition was replicated over a 26 kilometre track, from a high speed autobahn to bumpy rural roads.
Ergonomic design and interior refinement
Creating a more user friendly interior meant more than simply developing superior technology. This new Lexus had to be easier to drive for both men and women. So the designers went as far as sticking false fingernails onto their fingers, to better understand the driving experience of women. They then refined the design of the steering and controls accordingly, to accommodate every requirement.
The design team took further inspiration from beyond the automotive world. They studied the cockpits of Gulfstream jets, and gained insight for the instrument panels of the new Lexus vehicles.