When it comes to Japanese luxury brands, Lexus must be an unavoidable topic. This brand has a short history, but it has the strength to compete with century-old brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW ; it and those acquired Luxury brands are different. Lexus is completely built by Toyota, which produces tens of millions of cars. It is like a chain of fast food restaurants launching steak Wellington. It seems out of place, but it turns out to be a hit.
When talking about the birth of Lexus, we have to move the time to the end of World War II. At that time, in order to achieve its global strategic deployment, the United States spared no effort to support Japan and purchased large quantities of Japanese products, which directly led to the miraculous recovery of the Japanese economy and Japanese cars. In this case, it landed in the US market. These cheap, fast and fuel-efficient products completely dominated the U.S. auto market after the outbreak of the first oil crisis, resulting in a large number of job losses for employees in the U.S. auto industry. The U.S. government had to step in to solve the problem. The result was that Japanese car companies wanted to If they want to continue selling in the U.S. market, they must reduce exports, which forces these car companies to find new ways to launch products with higher profit margins.
In this context, the familiar "Royal Three" all appeared. However, at that time, Acura and Infiniti upgraded the existing products of Honda and Nissan . Only Lexus used them. At the time, people thought it was a thankless effort. approach to create a flagship model that is completely independent of Toyota's product line.
"Lexus" first appeared on Toyota's board of directors in August 1983. This project caused controversy among Toyota's board of directors. Toyota's financial situation was good, and perhaps they could maintain their status as the world's top automobile production company if they stayed where they were. Chasing a risky investment project, once it fails, the financial statements may immediately show losses, which may not even be smoothed out for several consecutive years. After a series of arguments, the Lexus project was finally launched.
The biggest question facing the Lexus project team is: How to make a 40-year-old prospective Mercedes-Benz or BMW suddenly change his mind and buy luxury products from the East? It is not difficult to find such users, but how to obtain them is difficult.
In order to gain users from rivals, Lexus chief engineer Ichiro Suzuki believes that to break the industry standards set by Mercedes-Benz and BMW, it needs to gain advantages in five aspects: top speed, fuel economy, ride comfort, aerodynamics and body weight. If we talk about numbers, it is to create a car with a speed of over 222 km/h, a fuel consumption of 8 km/L, a weight of less than 1760 kg, a cabin noise of less than 61 decibels at a speed of 100 km/h, and a drag coefficient of less than 0.32. car.
It is not easy to have a drag coefficient lower than 0.32. Many sports cars cannot break through this number. At that time, Toyota's famous bull devil Supra also had a drag coefficient not lower than 0.32. The drag coefficients of the BMW 735i and Mercedes-Benz S are 0.32 and 0.37 respectively.
The following facts can help you better understand the horror of Lexus's first product.
In addition, the LS 400 is also the first full-size luxury car to be equipped with an electric four-way adjustable steering wheel, SRS airbags, and electric adjustable seat belts. , and electric rearview mirrors. At the same time, all electronically adjustable equipment supports position memory function. In addition, the air suspension used in the LS 400 was a piece of equipment that other car companies only started to popularize ten years later. At that time, the air suspension used in the LS 400 already had considerable durability.
Unveiled at the North American Auto Show in January 1989, the Lexus LS 400, like all new things, was questioned by everyone. However, in the second year after its launch, the sales volume of the LS 400 in the United States surpassed that of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series . There are many more legends about it, but please keep the following three keywords in mind. Once you say these two keywords about the LS series, it will make people feel that you have a certain understanding of Lexus.
The first thing I want to talk about is the champagne glass tower. Luxury brands like to make a fuss about the engine when promoting their own products. For example, they put some items that are not easy to balance on the front of the car to prove that the engine has low vibration. The LS 400 also did one. Similar things, in the advertisements back then, LS A champagne glass tower is placed on the engine cover of the 400. In order to emphasize the smoothness of the engine, the vehicle completed ignition on the horsepower machine and accelerated to 142mph (approximately 229km/h). The champagne glass tower still stands.
If the advertisement of the champagne glass tower only illustrates the advantages of Lexus in mechanical manufacturing, then the next key word of the interior reflects the unique aesthetic standards of Orientals, which is Reiko Kiriko lined with Tsuruha Origami.
In 2014, Lexus cooperated with Asahi Glass Company to explore the application of glass as decoration in automobile interiors. Reiko Kiriko is a very common glass carving pattern in Japan. Through the combination of lines and angles, a very beautiful glass reflection effect is achieved.
The crane feather folding cloth is a traditional fabric that is folded and fixed by hand to create the appearance of the crane's feathers when it spreads its wings. In the end, the two processes are cleverly combined. Today, when minimalism is popular among European and American manufacturers, Lexus uses Complex craftsmanship reveals its opposite beauty. In fact, in terms of the two materials, glass and cloth, their own value is lower, but after complicated hand-carving, the actual cost is so high that it can only be used on flagship models.
LS 400's success gave Lexus great confidence, but one product alone was not enough to gain a firm foothold. Lexus subsequently launched ES, GS, SC, LX, RX and other models in the U.S. market, covering multiple levels of products. A complete product matrix of sedans and SUVs is a strong backing for Lexus to gain a foothold in the luxury market.
The American automobile industry is relatively mature and the market is relatively standardized. In addition, the automobile culture has been established for a long time. In addition, private cars are almost the first choice of Americans as a means of transportation. All global automobile brands hope to differentiate themselves in this market. A cup of soup. But what’s interesting is that in the field of luxury brands, American consumers rely heavily on imports.
Let’s take last year’s data as an example. The top five luxury brands in the US market in 2019 were BMW (324,826 units) and Mercedes-Benz (316,094 units). ), Lexus (298,114 units), Audi (224,111 units) and Acura (157,385 units). Unlike the "BBA" we often say, American consumers prefer "BBL". Among the top three brands, Lexus has the fewest models on sale and the shortest brand history. However, for American consumers, choosing Lexus can experience the "oriental charm" without any conflict in usage habits.
Next, our eyes return to us. As another market with the most growth potential in the world after the European and American markets, our country’s automobile market has long become a battleground for mainstream automobile brands. Audi is the first to achieve a sales breakthrough in China. It took 22 years for the luxury brand to achieve this record with sales of 1 million units. The second one to achieve sales of one million units was BMW, which took 18 years. On June 11 last year, Lexus delivered its one millionth vehicle sold in the Chinese market. It only took 14 years, but what makes people "fearful" is that Lexus, unlike German brands, is purely imported. Completed this record. Summary of the full text of
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If you want to become a trend-setting brand, you must not live up to what your competitors and the public expect, because doing so will only make the product fall behind the trend. From this perspective, this is how Lexus has gone through its development in just a few decades. Although the initial products did not have many unique designs in terms of appearance and interior, they conveyed a different mechanical and configuration level from Europe and the United States. The voice of car companies. In recent years, Lexus has undergone significant changes in its internal and external styling. Although brands from Europe and the United States have determined some basics of car styling, such as proportions, lines, curved surfaces, details, etc., in terms of future trends, Dongfang, Regardless of Europe or the United States, everyone is actually starting from the same starting line.
(picture/text Netcom Liu Ke)
