Lexus Centurion

In 1983, Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda called together the strategists, engineers and management behind the success of Toyota for a classified meeting. There he divulged a plan to create a luxury vehicle that would compete with the best. He was in search of a perfect vehicle for the perfect moment. Six years, 1 400 engineers and $1 billion later, the Lexus LS400 was released in the United States.

To grasp the ephemeral nature of American luxury, 20 designers and engineers were relocated to what can be considered the pinnacle of affluent suburbs - Laguna Beach - to study the concept of luxury. Immersing themselves in the culture with lavish homes, affluent schools and five-star restaurants, they came to grasp the concept of luxury.

Four-hundred and fifty prototypes and 4.7 million testing kilometres later the LS400 was created. Almost 20 years on, Lexus has become synonymous with sophistication, performance, safety and refinement - the ideals of contemporary luxury. By 1992 Lexus was outselling its German rivals to become the number one luxury import vehicle in the US.

Today, Lexus International reaches across the globe, in search of the perfect moment. The driving force behind every division of Lexus is to enrich society through the manufacturing of world class vehicles, in the ongoing pursuit of the perfect car for the perfect moment. In such a dynamic world and era in which we live, such a pursuit requires continuous devotion to the cars that are redesigned, reshaped and adapted to cater for and apply any technological advancement that helps meet these ends.

The pursuit of such perfection compels us as a corporate to engage in international discourse and meet the needs of those communities whose lives we are looking to enrich. This means going beyond the manufacturing of vehicles.