In the late 1980s, the three largest Japanese car makers – Toyota, Honda and Nissan – all decided to launch upmarket sister brands. Honda produced Acura, Nissan came up with Infiniti and from Toyota we got Lexus.
All three have proven especially successful in the US, and today Acura and Infiniti are primarily US brands. Lexus, however, is also in 90 countries across the world and the biggest seller of premium cars in its home market of Japan.
While Honda has never tried to launch Acura in Europe, both Nissan and Toyota decided there were rich pickings to be had for their premium brands. Infiniti crashed and burned, lasting just 12 years in the UK, but Lexus has proven rather more resilient – first going on sale in 1990, Lexus dealers are today established and successful operators on the British market.
Lexus succeeded first on its quality – “the relentless pursuit of perfection” became a slogan for the brand – and later for its hybrid drivetrains. At a time long before the rise of electric vehicles, when Toyota was pioneering hybrid cars as a green move for mainstream buyers, Lexus was doing the same for those with more money to spend.
So who or what is Lexus?
The seed for Lexus was sown in 1983 when Toyota initiated a project called ‘Flagship 1’ to “build the world’s best car”. This became the Lexus LS 400 and the Toyota team were set numerous challenging goals for their new car including an ‘anti-ageing’ programme – a car with 50,000 miles on the clock that should look, feel and drive just like a brand-new one.
Meanwhile the Japanese government introduced restrictions on car exports, which made it significantly more profitable for manufacturers to sell their more expensive models abroad. As a result, and after much research – particularly in north America – Toyota launched Lexus in 1989. By the end of the year more than 16,000 LS 400s had been sold, most of them to American buyers.
Lexus launched in the UK in 1990 with just the LS, the smaller GS saloon not joining the line-up until 1993. By this time Lexus was adding more models in the US, where the brand was outselling BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and topping customer satisfaction surveys.
There were innovations too – in 1998 the second-generation LS 400 was the first European car to offer satellite navigation as standard, and the LS 430 of 2000 debuted air suspension, keeping the car level no matter what the load or road surface. Other Lexus introductions included a host of safety features such as collapsible steering columns and twin-chamber airbags.
The brand had such a top reputation by this time that when movie director Steven Spielberg made sci-fi thriller Minority Report, set in 2054, he had Lexus create the car that star Tom Cruise drove.
Remarkably despite its global success, Lexus did not launch in its home market of Japan until 2005, where it proved an instant success. A year later the GS 450h marked the debut of the hybrid drivetrain – presented as a greener way to drive, Lexus and sister brand Toyota earned much positive publicity in following years as perceived pioneers of the technology.
Lexus reached a new milestone in 2011 with the LFA, a carbon-fibre supercar – just 500 were made and they sold out instantly. By 2019, Lexus dealers could be found in 90 countries and the brand sold its 10 millionth vehicle that year, of which 1.6 million were hybrid-powered. A year later Lexus made the next step with its full electric vehicle, the UX 300e.
What models does Lexus have and what else is coming?
Lexus was once all about upmarket saloons challenging the likes of the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes S-Class, but these days the marque’s nine-strong current line-up is dominated by SUV models, denoted by ‘X’ in the brand’s two-letter model naming system.
The UX, NX and RX are SUVs going up in size and all available as regular hybrids. The UX, launched in 2019, was the first compact SUV from Lexus, and in 2020 it was joined by an electric version, the brand’s first BEV.
The mid-sized NX, targeting the likes of the BMW X3 and Audi Q5, is also the first Lexus model offered as a plug-in hybrid and one of the most warmly received, one media review dubbing it “The best car Lexus has launched for years”.
The larger RX, pitched as an alternative to a BMW X5 or Land Rover Discovery Sport, is one of the longest-lasting Lexus models – the current version which arrived in showrooms at the end of 2022 is the fifth generation, and again has earned very positive reviews.
The RZ, on sale early in 2023, is the second EV from Lexus and effectively an electric alternative to the NX – it’s closely related to the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra, but quite a lot more expensive.
Most recent addition to the SUV line-up is the LBX, which arrived in the Spring of 2024. This is the upmarket version of the Toyota Yaris Cross – the smallest Lexus available and currently only on sale in regular hybrid form.
Lexus has not entirely abandoned traditional cars. The ES is a large executive saloon and was sold in the USA for many years before first being offered to British buyers in 2019. It’s only sold as a hybrid and in terms of refinement many reviewers consider this car very comparable to the best from the German premium brands.
There is an even larger Lexus saloon, the LS – it only comes as a hybrid with a 3.5-litre petrol engine, though you can have all-wheel-drive. This car is probably the least highly regarded of the brand’s line-up, lovely inside but not that great to drive.
Current Lexus range on our Expert Rating Index
Finally sports car fans are not forgotten – the most potent model in the Lexus range is the LC, offered in coupe and convertible form with either a 359hp hybrid powertrain or with a 5-litre V8 petrol engine pushing out 500hp. Reviewers love the V8, less so the hybrid…
In terms of new models Lexus is set to buck a market trend and launch an MPV in 2024. The second-generation of the LM, previously only sold in China, will be offered with a hybrid drivetrain to European buyers.
The hope is to attract the luxury VIP transport market, struggling to find suitable machines to replace axed models such as the Ford Galaxy and Volkswagen Sharan. In standard form the LM has seven seats, but it can be ordered with just four.
The most exciting new Lexus is expected in 2026 – the Electrified Sport will be a spiritual successor to the LFA supercar of 2011, and while the exact potency of its electric powertrain is yet to be revealed, it is said to be able to go from 0 to 62mph in only two seconds.
Where can I try a Lexus car?
Lexus is an upmarket brand so it doesn’t have as many dealerships as more mainstream manufacturers – in total there are around 50 across the UK. Some are attached to outlets of sister brand Toyota but many are standalone – Lexus Chester, for example, is run by a group that also has Mazda and Skoda outlets on the same site.
Lexus has a dealership finder on its website.
What makes Lexus different to the rest?
Hybrid powertrains helped enhance the reputation of Lexus in the premium market, but the standout reason for the brand’s success has always been quality. From the start the team working on creating the first Lexus cars was encouraged to be obsessive about their detail, while also urged to build in the highest levels of reliability.
That this priority has persisted is proven by the brand’s repeated high performance in customer quality and satisfaction surveys – especially in the US where Lexus consistently dominates the very highly regarded J. D. Power survey.
A Lexus fact to impress your friends
Drive a Lexus? You could have been driving an Alexis… There have been several explanations of the Lexus name, from simply meaning ‘luxury and high-end technology’ to ‘luxury exports to the US’…
In fact the name doesn’t mean anything specific – world-renowned advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi was commissioned to produce a name for Toyota’s new luxury brand, and front runner among more than 200 options they came up with was ‘Alexis’.
Toyota’s suits were worried, however, that Alexis sounded too much like a person than a car – they might have been influenced by the fact that actress Joan Collins was playing a character called Alexis Colby in the big-hit US soap opera Dynasty at the time.
The solution was simple – they dropped the first letter, and changed the ‘i’ to a ‘u’ to produce Lexus…
Summary
Lexus is an upmarket Japanese brand that has steadily built up a big presence on the automotive scene – while several years of hybrid publicity helped its cause, the brand has succeeded primarily due to the quality of its cars.
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