GOD OF HOPE

God, Guts, Heartbreak & Headaches: The Start of Lexus

The complete God, Guts, Heartbreak & Headaches: The Start of Lexus blog series is now available as a free e-book:

#61 – Lexus vs. LexisNexis Round 8: Knockout

  We were expected to pick a new name by March 3 if the Second Circuit Court of Appeals had not yet ruled in our favor. There were three new names: Luxus, Lucidia, and Celsior (the name Chairman E. Toyoda had picked for the car in Japan). We wanted to use a name...

#62 – A Marine to the Rescue

    Now that we had a name, the emphasis was going to shift to organizing the sales effort that was to begin in just six months. Lexus would be expected to sell 16,000 cars from September through December of 1989, plus 40,000 LS400s and 20,000 ES250s in the...

#63 – Pre-Selling Lexus

    You only get one chance to make a first impression. Everything about Lexus was new and unknown to the American consumer. Lexus would be an all-new product with new dealers, new facilities, and new sales and service people. Lexus sales in the first months...

#64 – Jet Lag, Sake, and Puffer Fish

  Depending on the wind, it’s an 11- or 12-hour flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo. On a typical flight, I would eat two meals, watch three movies, and take an occasional nap. Japan is 17 hours ahead of California.   I would leave L.A. at noon on Monday and...

#65 – Customers for Life

  Carl Sewell was one of the leading Cadillac dealers in the country. His dealership, Sewell Village Cadillac, was located in Dallas, Texas. Dick Chitty and I went to spend half a day with Carl.   Carl was soft-spoken and had a humble yet confident manner...

#66 – The Lexus Covenant

After Dick Chitty and I visited Carl Sewell, I got to thinking about a written statement that would articulate a vision for Lexus and instill in everyone the idea that they were part of something very important. When I got back to the office, I wrote some thoughts and...

#67 – Doing the Europeans One Better

Near the end of May 1989, Lexus invited automotive writers Pat Bedard from Car and Driver, Peter Egan from Road and Track, Jeff Karr from Motor Trend, Kevin Smith from Automobile, Richard Stepler from Popular Science, Tony Swan from Popular Mechanics, and Alex Taylor...

#68 – The Luxury Car Wars

  The automotive press sensed a market war was about to erupt when Lexus went on sale in September of 1989.   The WardsAuto Dealer headline read, “Charge of the Luxury Brigade.” It noted that the “upscale luxury market is fast becoming as packed as a New...

#69 – The First Lexus National Dealer Meeting

  The stakes were high. Toyota had spent more than $1 billion developing Lexus, and the dealers had spent over $500 million on facilities and equipment. The anticipation to drive the new LS400 was intense along with a healthy dose of anxiety.   Dr. and Mrs....

#70 – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

  What would the automotive press write about Lexus? Most of the reviews were good, some bad, and a few ugly.   New York Times reporter Richard Stevens set the tone when he wrote, “Lexus is the most critical marketing battle for Toyota since it was first...

#71 – The Battle Begins

  Ready or not, it was time to find out if all the long hours of planning, personal and professional sacrifices, and gut-wrenching decisions would pay off.   Our goal was to have 100 dealers open for business on September 1, 1989, but only 70 were ready to...

#72 – Champagne Glasses and Zen

  The Los Angeles Times predicted a “bloody mess” in the advertising market with Lexus and Infiniti pumping $175 million into the luxury car market. Lexus and Infiniti would approach the luxury market with radically different advertising.   Chris Cedegren of...