Marque guide

A challenge issued by the head of Toyota to create a world-beating car resulted in the formation of the upmarket Lexus marque. We look at how a fledgling producer of luxury vehicles went on to become a global brand.

Lexus: A guide to all the main models officially imported into the UK.

One of the side effects of the voluntary export restraints imposed on Japanese volume vehicle manufacturers in the ’70s led to the introduction during the following decade of several newly formed prestige marques into demanding North American market. The first of these new Far East built luxury brands arrived in 1986 when Honda introduced its Acuru marque into the US and Nissan quickly followed up a year later with the launch of the Infiniti badge as its premier brand. With Mazda also considering getting in on the act with its upmarket Amati marque and Austin Rover supporting its flagging prestige Sterling brand in the US, Toyota’s chairman Eiji Toyoda challenged his company to develop its own prestige marque to match the competition.

The project to develop an upmarket range of prestige Toyotas went under the code name FI, which stood for Flagship One. Marketing for Toyota’s new prestige marque was handled by the advertising gurus at Saatchi and Saatchi and a list of a couple of 100 prospective brand names was whittled down to a choice of half a dozen, with the main runners including Verone, Chaparel and Alexis. Although the last name on the shortlist turned out to be the firm favourite, it was considered too closely associated with a character in Dynasty, the 1980s TV drama. However, after substituting a couple of letters the name was altered to Lexus, but cynics insisted on claiming the new marque’s title had been poorly thought-out and was really an acronym for ‘Luxury EXecutive for the US’.

After Toyota had investing over $1billon developing its new luxury model, the first generation of the V8-powered Lexus LS400 made its debut at the Detroit Motor Show in January 1989 along with the ES200, a rebadged Toyota Camry. Unlike the prestige offerings from Honda and Nissan, the LS400 was an all-new model and was built around a freshly designed monocoque. The LS400 also featured a brand new silky smooth 3969cc DOHC V8 capable of pushing out a healthy 241bhp when fully wound up, a figure that translated into a fuss free top speed of 147mph.

Toyota started selling the LS400 in the UK and Europe in 1990 and the new car’s £34,250 price tag put the luxuriously kitted out Lexus firmly into BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S- Class territory. However, this didn’t seem to affect sales as three years after its introduction the fully-loaded Lexus LS400 was not only outselling BMW and Mercedes Benz models in the US, the new Japanese-built luxury saloon was starting to become noticed in the notoriously hard to impress European prestige car market as well.

Although Lexus never officially sold the ES200 in this country, the second Lexus-badged saloon to arrive on these shores was the Giugiaro-styled GS300 in 1992. This model was squarely aimed at the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes Benz E-Class and power came from a 2997cc straight six driving the rear wheels through a standard automatic gearbox. In 1994 Lexus introduced a revised lighter and more roomy version of the LS400 and in 1996 Lexus expanded its range with the introduction of its first SUV into the US market, the LX450.

According to the company’s publicity material, the LX prefix stood for Luxury Crossover and keen eyes would have noticed how this new V8-powered luxury Sport Utility Vehicle was heavily based on the body-on-frame constructed Toyota Land Cruiser. An all-new Lexus GS300 appeared on the scene in 1997 and the revisions, which included a new bodyshell with a longer wheelbase, highlighted the company’s almost obsessive attention to detail that was starting to win Lexus a dedicated customer base in the luxury saloon car market.

The same year Lexus launched a compact SUV based on the Toyota Harrier and badged the new model as the Lexus RX. Although this model was only available at first in the US, Lexus put even more pressure on the European luxury car market in 1988 with the introduction of the IS200, a new compact prestige saloon that kick-started the trend for ‘clear’ outer rear light lenses. This was the first Lexus saloon to

have started life as a Toyota and was a skilfully badge engineered version of the Toyota Altezza, a model never officially exported to Europe. The target market for the IS200 was already dominated the BMW 3-Series and MercedesBenz C- Class and power for the new entry level Lexus saloon came from a 1988cc straight six driving the rear wheels through a standard six-speed manual gearbox or an optional fourspeed auto ‘box.

Towards the end of 2000 a revised version of the all-wheel drive RX300 became officially available in the UK and the new model immediately went head-to-head with the Range Rover. Originally introduced in Japan during 1997, the Lexus RX series was eventually offered in the UK with two engine options and the RX went on to become one of the best selling Lexus models, selling over 370,000 units world-side in its first five years of production.

Although the Lexus didn’t officially import the first generation of the SC400 coupé into the UK, the company introduced the second generation of this stylish two-door sportscar to these shores in 2001 badged as the SC430. Power came from a 4.3-litre V8 mated to a five-speed autobox and this fully loaded drophead was aimed directly at the Mercedes-Benz SL’s hallowed market place.

The Lexus SC430 had been designed from the floorpan up as a convertible and its sectioned folding aluminium hard top cleverly retracted into the boot space at the touch of a button.

Innovation and luxury was the name of the game for Lexus and the company was at the cutting edge of technology when it unveiled the electric hybrid powered RX400h at the North American Motor Show in 2004. The propulsion system for this technically advanced model was dubbed Lexus Hybrid Drive and this complex drivetrain would be gradually introduced across the whole range of Lexus badged vehicles. While driving in normal conditions, the hybrid powered vehicle’s front wheels were driven by the main engine as well as a Ni-MH battery pack powering electric motor. At low speeds the engine automatically cut out and the front electric motor continued to propel the vehicle. Hard acceleration or a loss of traction on a hybrid Lexus would power up the electric motor driving the rear wheels and because the vehicle’s main engine regularly shuts down, the water pump, alternator, power steering and air con compressor are all driven by electric motors.

In 2005 the Lexus brand was separated from Toyota’s parent organisation and the luxury marque was finally launched onto the Japanese market.

To match Mercedes-Benz AMG and BMW M divisions, Lexus introduced the optional F-Sport performance package in 2007 across the whole range and in 2010 the company introduced the 1.8-litre hybrid powered CT200h hatchback into the European market.

Between 2010 and 2012 Lexus dipped its toes into hallowed supercar pastures occupied by Ferrari and Lamborghini when it produced the limited edition 4.8-litre V10-powered Lexus LTA, a very expensive custom built sports car only available in this country through London-based Lexus Park Lane.

Over the years the line up of Lexus models officially available in the UK has been clouded by a number of grey imports entering the country from across the Atlantic.

By the end of 2016, the Lexus line up officially available in the UK consisted of the CT five-door hatch, the IS200/300 range, the GS four door saloon line-up, LS400/600h, the NX five-door hatchback hybrid (basically a rebadged RAV 4), the RX series of four-by-four SUV’s and the RC430 range of two-door coupès topped out by the £67,795 RC 5.0-litre V8 Carbon.

To hopefully clarify matters the following panels detail the main models officially imported into this country up to introduction of the Ferrari chasing LTA sports car in 2010.