Lexus was founded by Toyota Motor Co in 1989 but had been in the works since 1983. It was in that year that Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda had a secret meeting of company executives in which he asked them: “Can we create a luxury vehicle to challenge the world’s best?”. The answer was yes, and Toyota began a project code named “F1”.
In 1989, after an extended development process involving 60 designers, 24 engineering teams, 1400 engineers, 2300 technicians, 220 support workers, around 450 prototypes, and over $1 billion in costs, the F1 project was completed. The resulting flagship, the Lexus LS 400, had a unique design, sharing no major elements with previous Toyota vehicles and was equipped with a new four litre V8 engine and rear-wheel drive. It was a monumental achievement. The first year the LS400 was on the market it sold 65,000 units and sales would steadily increase. It won numerous awards including Car and Driver’s luxury car of the year, beating more expensive offers from BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Vehicles from Lexus are best known for reliability and luxury. Lexus has won the JD Power award for reliability thirteen times - quite a feat for a eighteen year old company.