Cars We Buy: Lexus

The 1983 meeting between Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda and company executives was to discuss the possibility of developing a new luxury car and how they could compete with American brands. The project was labelled as F1-Flagship 1-, which is short for Flagship Luxury One. It proved profitable in many ways: it created Lexus LS 400 cars that were soon known worldwide before their U.S debut under its name "Lexus."

Not only did the LS 400 take time and resources to build, but it also took extensive research. The Japanese went so far as renting a house in Laguna Beach to observe their "subjects." Much later than expected was this car was released because of its long-gestating consumer research process that eventually led to an engineering breakthrough: the LX400 became a hit after being introduced during America's 1980’s automobile boom era.

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Endorsed by insightful advertising, the LS 400 entered the North American Auto Show in Detroit in 1989, where it was one of the main attractions. And how could it not have been after 24 engineering teams and a few thousand employees worked on 450 prototypes at the cost of a paltry $1 billion investment?

Silent, ergonomic, powerful and reliable, the LS became a fierce competitor for European imports such as Mercedes Benz and BMW, whose sales drastically dropped following Lexus' trumpeting market entrance.