If you want to understand why Lexus is offering the cars that it does, one has to look at the brand’s short history. Once you’ve done so, all of their offerings of the last three decades will make much more sense.
Primary historic values of the brand were the promise of Toyota reliability, an infusion electronic gadgets that beat all of its rivals, efficient powertrains and the fact that it wasn’t a Mercedes, even though it’s clear that there has been a little bit of Three Pointed Star in plenty of Lexus models, with the obvious Japanese twist. The X-Car video below details this.
Their more recent cars are becoming more flamboyant and noticeable through their styling, but this wasn’t always the case, and, in fact, design was by no means the reason why these L-badged cars originally became so popular (in the US).
The LS400 that was made between 1989 to 1994 (and their first model ever) is somewhat of a modern classic. They built 165,000 of them, and if you check the automotive press archives, you’ll see that even today it’s a sound, recommendable buy, if you’re in the market for cheap 90s luxury motoring.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO