They Tried to Shut Me Down for Telling the Truth About Lexus

who endeavored to create a luxury flagship car but ended up creating a whole new luxury brand who created the world's first 8-speed automatic transmission and which car maker requires employees to pass through an air shower to remove dust each time they enter the engine plant today we'll look at what led to the creation of the lexus brand the luxury car division that belongs to toyota the story started several decades ago with yukiya shu togo he was the president of toyota motor sales usa one day he realized that most of his successful friends and colleagues owned mercedes and bmws but few considered buying a toyota toyota had a solid reputation of building quality cars and its production was considered one of the best in the world but there was no singular car in toyota's lineup that carried an image of prestige wealth or social status and here's why there was the famous oil crisis in the 1970s it caused fuel prices to skyrocket and that caused consumers to turn their attention to japanese cars since they were inexpensive and economical so as a result japanese car sales grew in the u.s and european markets this further fed the perception that japanese cars were reliable and had better fuel economy in the united states toyotas become generally associated with pickups by the 80s the economy recovered people became financially comfortable again and were able to buy cars that cost more in people's minds toyota was the economy and mainstream category it wasn't considered to be in the class of high end or luxury car togo believed that toyota could build a true luxury car one that would fit a high-end lifestyle a car of the highest quality no worse than mercedes-benz he was confident that it would succeed in august 1983 at a confidential meeting of toyota corporation's board of directors chairman aygie toyota voiced togo's idea but yukiya sotogo's idea was received with more skepticism than enthusiasm creating a new luxury brand would mean spending more money on resources and production but to me consumer demand the company decided to take the bold step toyota set a goal to surpass the best luxury cars and speed economy weak aerodynamics and noise or lack thereof and they dared to achieve all of that without reducing quality and reliability they aimed to launch a new era for toyota in 1984 they began project f1 with all ideas goals and objectives for the development of a premium car the name f1 had nothing to do with formula one instead the letter f and the code name stood for flagship and the number one referred to the goal of being a luxury sedan of the highest class the first of its kind to exceed quality while being affordable the project name reflected their ambitions the main engineers of the project were shouiji jimbo and ichiro suzuchi it involved a total of 60 designers 1400 engineers 2300 technicians and 220 auxiliary workers by the end of project f1 about 450 prototypes had been designed with the cost of the project exceeding 1 billion dollars in may 1985 the development of a luxury car prototype was in full swing toyota did large-scale research on a luxury car market in the usa that year some designers and developers rented a house in laguna beach california to explore the taste and lifestyle of premium car buyers in the united states their studies found that the popular premium cars had lower performance characteristics than expected scoring just fourth place out of five the thing that was most important to consumers was brand prestige and image high quality materials and attractive design so after this study the chief engineer ichiro suzuki knew that two criteria he should focus on the most exceptional performance and a unique stylish design but the developers faced an almost impossible task to achieve one feature of the car meant you had to sacrifice another for example to reduce fuel consumption you need to reduce the weight of the car but to reduce engine noise you need more sound proofing material which adds weight to the car so now you have a conflict and you have to find a compromise and it's a vicious circle here's another example luxury cars need to be elegant and have aesthetic appeal but optimizing aerodynamics impacts the overall design of the car suzuki was convinced that these conflicts could be resolved without needing to compromise and he succeeded for the noise and weight problem he reasoned you could eliminate the cause of the noise instead of working to eliminate the consequences of a noisy engine but to approach it from that angle he needed to design a completely different engine suzuki took advantage of being the chief engineer of the new project he was able to persuade the chief equipment engineer of toyota to create one experimental engine according to suzuki's drawings the company's leading experts assembled it by hand and the results were impressive the engine had lower vibrations and therefore minimal noise and it had noteworthy fuel economy because of the size in july 1985 they assembled the first prototype there were many opinions about the name choice they saw the value of keeping it under the toyota brand while others suggested creating a new brand specific to the luxury line they finally decided on a new brand name and a new sales channel to give the car an opportunity to create a fresh image in consumers minds rather than being associated with the image and perception of its parent toyota there are several different stories of how the lexus name was chosen according to one story the team held brainstorming sessions and came up with 219 possible names the names alexis and celsius took the lead alexis got more votes but then many people associated with the name of the heroine alexis carrington colby in the tv series dynasty so they came up with an idea to modify it into something similar eventually landing on lexus according to another story the word lexus was invented by editing the word luxury and elegance some people believe that lexus is a modification of the latin word luxus yet another theory is that lexus was an acronym that stood for luxury exports to the u.s later in an interview with team one the ad agency for the brand said the name lexus didn't have any particular meaning and that it simply connoted luxury and technology in 1985 the first prototype for lexus ls400 appeared the ls stood for luxury sedan and the 400 stood for its 4-liter engine if you think that lexus went in production immediately thereafter well that's an overestimation these incredibly industrious workers spent another four years perfecting the creation in 1986 the ls-400 passed road tests in germany canada and sweden it overcame snow drifts while maneuvering on winding mountain roads the test results led to the improvement of the steering and suspension system in may 1987 after eight different designs were presented the management team finally approved one body design and so on january 2nd 1988 after years of development lexus as a brand in a car was introduced at the los angeles auto show in january 1989 at the detroit murder show the world saw the first lexus models the ls400 and es250 es stood for executive sedans and 250 stood for its 2.5 liter engine the ls400 received praise for its excellent handling ergonomic interior engine performance build quality aerodynamics fuel economy and cost previously what was thought to be impossible had become possible the ls-400 engine turned out to be unusually quiet with minimal vibrations it was a huge milestone for the company in fact they took advantage of that as a key marketing message one of the first lexus edge showed a stacked pyramid of delicate champagne glasses on the hood of the car then the car accelerated quickly and reached the maximum speed of 145 miles an hour yet even at that engine speed fast gear changes the engine produced virtually no vibration the glass pyramid remained intact on the lexus hood they didn't slide off or tip over there wasn't a single spill after six months of sales in february 1990 the u.s media recognized the lexus ls400 as the best imported car in the market no other car model in the world had ever experienced such a triumphant start since 1991 the ls400 topped customer satisfaction rating for five consecutive years and they still hold that record today in 1992 lexus overtook european competitors like mercedes-benz bmw and jaguar in the u.s sales the ls400 became the number one premium import model it came as a huge shock to german automakers that a brand new brand could surpass them so soon in fact it was a large blow to bmw mercedes who lost 29 19 of their sales the lexus ls400 soon became known as the japanese mercedes in 1999 which was 10 years after it ended the market the 1 millionth lexus got sold in the us and that's how the car made its way into the american market but it's one thing to create a good car and another thing to create a good dealer network in the car industry black's the same to make the life of its customers more luxurious and it achieved that for instance in 89 they got complaints from two customers about faulty wiring so the company voluntarily recalled all 8000 units that have been sold the car maker organized a 20-day operation with the dealerships whereby the employees picked up cars and repaired it the company also organized flights and services even in remote places where clients live now that's customer service and the press noticed too the incident gave the new company a strong reputation for high level customer service the company went on to promise that lexis dealers would treat customers as guests to prove it they offered customers a servicing program any customer whose car was being repaired or serviced would be given an equivalent vehicle in the interim they also provided emergency roadside assistance 24 7 which included getting gas delivered to you if it ran out on the road they also offered shuttling services and car washes these side services helped reinforce the image of a luxury brand so that customers would have no complaints or regrets about buying a lexus lexus demanded the impossible in order to create the idea that's why today lexus remains one of the leaders in a luxury segment selling it in some 70 countries they created a reputation and perception when i entered the market and that image still resonates in consumers minds on tarnish if you liked this episode please share this video thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Scotty Kilmer

Views: 818,518

Keywords: lexus, here's why, luxury car, luxury cars

Id: XGNxX_IMUCc

Length: 11min 21sec (681 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021