Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, where Lexus has become the highest-selling make of luxury car, today Lexus vehicles are available throughout the world. As of 2006, Lexus is sold in 68 countries and territories worldwide. In 2005, the Lexus marque launched in Japan, becoming the first Japanese luxury car marque to be introduced in its home market. Through 2009, the Lexus brand name has debuted in additional export markets as part of the division's continued global expansion.
Since 1989, Lexus has developed a reputation for vehicle reliability and customer service, as measured by independent surveys. In 2008, consumer ratings firm J.D. Power and Associates named Lexus the most reliable brand in the U.S. for the fourteenth year, based on its Vehicle Dependability Survey, a measure of over 53,000 vehicle owners and problems experienced in the first three years of vehicle ownership. Through 2008, Consumer Reports has also named Lexus among the top five most reliable brands in its Annual Car Reliability Surveys of over one million vehicles across the U.S.
The Lexus slogan is The Pursuit of Perfection.
Toyota researchers visited the U.S. in May 1985 to conduct focus groups and market research on luxury consumers. That summer, several F1 designers rented a home in Laguna Beach, California to observe the lifestyles and tastes of American upper-class consumers. Toyota’s market research concluded that a separate brand and sales channel were needed to present its new luxury flagship, and plans were made to develop a new network of dealerships in the U.S. market.
In 2002, Lexus was requested by Steven Spielberg, a Lexus owner himself, to design a vehicle that would fit the requirements of year 2054 for his movie Minority Report. Designers working with Lexus came up with an advanced vehicle that would run on fuel cells and have many advanced safety features, including a crashproof structure and biometric security systems. (Lexus' cinematic concept car also appears in The Island, though it is colored blue, not red). A Lexus film tie-in site proposed a Lexus future vehicle that would drive itself, take dinner orders verbally, and select music to match occupant moods.The Lexus 2054 later appeared at several auto shows and public events.
The term "the Lexus of..." has also entered the cultural lexicon as a description of a high-end product, or an upscale brand produced by a mainstream manufacturer. For example, in 2006, Dell announced a premium lineup of computers, calling it "the Lexus of our lineup." Further example comparisons include "the Lexus of phones" or "the Lexus of space stations," among others. Late-night comedian Jay Leno first coined the term "Lexus-ized" for his automotive columns in Popular Mechanics, an expression generally used to describe the Lexus approach to luxury motoring. Despite the official pluralized form of Lexus being simply Lexus, the public has also made its own derivatives (the most popular derivative being "Lexi"). Registration data from the U.S. Social Security Administration in 2003 revealed that Lexus had become the most popular baby name derived from a luxury brand. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman cited Lexus as an example of the drive for prosperity and development in his best-selling 1999 book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
In the UK, the LS 430 flagship was introduced in the BBC spy drama Spooks; Lexus models were also placed on ITV's Coronation Street, the BBC's Judge John Deed, and other programs.Lexus GB models saw sales increases after being seen on ITV's Footballers' Wives. In 2002, comedian Steve Coogan's fictional BBC Alan Partridge character replaced his Rover with an IS 200, calling it the "Japanese Mercedes" and one of many "Lexi"; his superficial character was seen as detrimental to the brand's image. By 2004, multiple hip-hop artists, including Jay-Z (in the song "Ain't No Nigga") and Kanye West (in "Jesus Walks") made mention of Lexus vehicles in their songs, an endorsement that Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson suggested added street credibility for the brand.
The introduction of Lexus hybrids have garnered further media attention through celebrity RX 400h owners such as Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, and Holly Hunter, who were among the earliest adopters of the Lexus Hybrid Drive technology. Politicians in the UK and Ireland] have acquired Lexus hybrids, along with government agencies. In Monaco, Prince Albert II purchased an LS 600h and advocated the adoption of hybrid tax credits.
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