The Lexus Covenant

In the beginning, Lexus laid down objectives and formulated a formidable set of working principles.
These ideals keep every designer, engineer, worker and dealer steadfastly committed to the original philosophy. The Lexus Covenant guides every decision we make, every car we create, every service we provide.

Lexus will enter the most competitive, prestigious automobile race in the world.
Years of automotive experience has culminated in the creation of Lexus cars.
They will be the finest cars ever built.
Lexus will win the race because
Lexus will do it right from the start.
Lexus will have the finest dealer network in the industry. Lexus will treat each customer as we would a guest in our home.
If you think you can't, you won't...
If you think you can, you will!
We can, we will.

Manufacturing

Lexus vehicles have been built in Japan since 1989.
The first plant was a purpose-built facility near Nogoya, Japan representing the pinnacle of Japanese automotive production capability.

Today Lexus vehicles are produced in six plants in Japan and one located in the Province of Ontario, Canada. This facility began producing the RX330, the luxury sport utility that was the Australia's Best Cars Award winner for 2003 and 2004 and one of the top sellers in the Lexus portfolio.

Attention to Detail

Before development of the first Lexus began, design teams first journeyed to the US to live in Laguna Beach. They visited upscale shopping centres, visited country clubs, watched shoppers wearing tennis clothes loading shopping bags into the boots of their cars.

To understand the driving experience of women, designers first had false nails applied in order to fine tune steering wheel designs. They interviewed women talking about the homes and their lifestyles. Designers studied prestigious hotel suites and the cabins of luxury yachts.

They examined the techniques of Swiss watchmakers, and the craftsmanship of guitar and watchmakers. They lived in the Cote d'Azur, villas in the South of France, scrutinising the lifestyles of the world's most discerning individuals. LS400 test prototypes were sent to an Arizona company that specialised in inflicting vehicle damage. Cars were left for months in the searing Arizona desert, with the windows down, along with other luxury marques, to critique their durability.

Then, the chrome plating thickness was increased and 6 coats of paint applied which, remarkably, even contributed to sound proofing. While most new car development require five or six full scale clay models, Lexus created fourteen to develop the first LS400 with its aerodynamic body.

In total, around 450 test cars were built, driven millions of kilometres, from autobahns to snow bound test tracks, to develop the first Lexus. A hundred cars were crashed to develop the safety systems.

A super computer calculated precise body fitment tolerances.

Environmental Concern

Our tireless commitment to the environment has grown out of a genuine respect and concern for the earth and future generations. The focus of Lexus design efficiency is to build a vehicle that is exceptionally lean in its use of raw materials, its fuel, and its impact on the environment, while pushing the boundaries of performance, luxury and quality.

The design of lighter-weight vehicles means greater natural resource conservation, better fuel consumption, less emissions, reduced brake wear, improved handling and braking performance, and less scrap disposal. Lexus works to reduce weight without weakening the vehicle or eliminating desirable features through sophisticated computer modelling that allows excess material to be designed out during engineering. Extensive testing validates the strength and durability of each component before it goes into production.

Lexus pushes the frontiers of vehicle aerodynamic efficiency, using wind-tunnel-tuned, computer-modelled details to reduce aerodynamic drag. Engine and driveline sounds are analysed and tuned exhaustively, and airflow sounds are investigated in the wind tunnel and on the road. Plastic components used in the interiors and exteriors of Lexus vehicles are moulded of a highly recyclable and lightweight material. Lead and mercury, two of the more challenging substances to deal with when a car is dismantled, have been largely supplanted by environmentally preferable materials.