Lexus is a luxury brand of Toyota, whose first product, the Lexus LS, was launched in 1989. The project began in 1983 when the then Toyota chairman challenged his team to build “the world’s best car”.  At the time, Toyota was represented in the premium segment by the Toyota Supra, Mark 2, and the Crown.

Lexus is Japan’s biggest seller of luxury brands. The project was mainly for export, and targeted especially the American market. This was in response to Nissan’s Infiniti, Honda’s Acura (Legend), and Mazda’s 929. Toyota felt that to enter the American luxury market they needed to create a separate brand. It became only available in Japan in 2005, when Lexus was incorporated independently. However, as the Toyota brand grew in stature, a number of the Lexus brands are now also sold as Toyota, creating some confusion.

In Zimbabwe Lexus is available from Toyota as the twin of the Land Cruiser Series 200, and in the grey market mostly as the twin of the Toyota Altezza. The LS saloons are also available in the grey market.

The first luxury saloon launched was the LS400, with a 4L V8 petrol engine, and rear wheel drive in 1989. It was positioned to compete with the Mercedes 420SEL and the BMW 735i, among others, and obviously gave better value for money against these established giants. It took a big chunk of the market, especially in the American market, where previous Japanese vehicles had been conservative and economical.

Among other brands that followed were the GS300 sports sedan (related to the Toyota Aristo), the top selling ES300, the RX300 SUV (also sold as the Toyota Harrier), and the top of the range full size luxury SUV Lexus LX450 (related to the Landcruiser Series 100 and 200).

Lexus came back to the home market of Japan in 2005, becoming the first Japanese luxury car in Japan. The brand replaced Toyota branded Lexus models such as Altezza, Celsior, Aristo, Harrier, among others.

Lexus leads in innovative luxury technologies centred around aerodynamics, ride quality, and interior feel, especially sound and light ambience.