Is for Fun

DRIVEN’S DAVID KAVERMANN WAS AT THE LEXUS DRIVE DAY AT HAMPTON DOWNS THIS WEEK

Seven years ago, president of Toyota Motor Corporation Akio Toyoda was “accosted” by a motoring journalist: by no means an irregular occurrence for a top executive in a room full of the world’s motoring media, yet this particular encounter would go on to profoundly change the luxury Japanese marque’s direction.

The journalist praised the company’s attention to detail, safety advancements, reliability standards and luxuriousness, but what stuck with Toyoda most was a comment about the brand’s lack of excitement.

Talking to shareholders last year Toyoda said he vividly recalled that moment: “I remember being on stage in 2011 revealing a new GS to a group of journalists, and I couldn’t wait for their reaction.”

To his astonishment, the reaction from one journo was: “This is just another boring Lexus.”.

“Seriously, I couldn’t believe it,” Toyoda told shareholders.

“But you know what, I took another look at that GS. In fact I took another look at all our cars, both Toyota and Lexus, and I said, ‘They are right’.

“I was determined that the word boring and the word Lexus would never be used in the same sentence again.”

Fast forward to 2018 and the fruits of Toyoda’s and Lexus engineer’s efforts to change the perception of Lexus were laid bare in the pit lane of Hampton Downs Motorsport Park this week.

More than $1 million worth of Lexus F-Performance models had been gathered for the Lexus Summer of Performance programme. There were no new models to speak of and no new technology to plug. The day was all about mapping the brand’s journey in the past few years and more importantly — fun.

Lexus has updated every model in its range in the past five years and introduced a new halo car, the LC 500 and hybrid LC 500h coupes.

Lexus’ three-tier F-Performance range now includes factorysanctioned cosmetic or performance upgrades for every model in the brand’s line-up, including SUVS.

Motorsport is an increasingly important pillar for Lexus, too.

With Kiwi and Toyota Racing Series graduate Nick Cassidy behind the wheel, Lexus won teams’ and drivers’ titles in the Japanese SuperGT GT500 class last year, and the company also now has a RC F-based GT3 car competing in Japan and America.

Our Hampton Downs drive day began with a basic cornering exercise. Accelerating, braking and turning into the apex of Hampton Down’s corkscrew hairpin — let the fun begin.

I tackled the exercise in a range of V8-powered, naturally aspirated F-Performance models. The RC-F coupe, GS F four-door sedan and LC 500 all proved lively in the short section.

However, with an eye on the coming electric revolution, the V6 hybrid LC 500h was also included