Business Week magazine’s headline read, “Surprisingly Mixed Returns on Lexus.” They were referring to the slow start for the ES250. Our friend Chris Cedergren of JD Power and Associates announced, “It’s basically being proven that the Japanese will not be an...
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:
#74 – Triumph and Tragedy
According to the February 2015 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report on vehicle crashes, 95% of all accidents are attributed to driver error, 3% of accidents to environmental factors, and 2% are to vehicle component failure. ...
#75 – Sleepless Nights, Answered Prayers
It was the Monday morning after Thanksgiving when Dick Chitty, Lexus vice president of service and customer relations, came into my office. I could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong. There was an awkward silence. I sensed this was not going...
#76 – The Hard Part
Word spread throughout the organization of the trouble. It got tense. In addition, November sales were disappointing and added to my anxiety. The LS400 exceeded its goal of 2,500 with 2,738 sales, but the ES250 fell short of its 1,500 objective again with only...
#77 – A Defining Moment
Dick Chitty commented, “Well, I guess we are going to find out if that Lexus Covenant we all signed means anything.” We decided to craft our response to the recall around that commitment. We and the dealers had all signed the Lexus Covenant agreeing to exceed...
#78 – 1989 in the Rear View Mirror
Throughout 1989, dramatic changes were happening around the world. The Cold War had begun to thaw with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. In China, student protestors seeking more individual freedoms clashed with hardline Chinese Communist Party...
#79 – Elvis Lives
I often bragged to people at work that my senior year in high school I sang a solo in the Linsly Military Institute talent show. When my fellow associates prodded me to sing for them, I always refused. However, I did foolishly agree to sing a solo for everyone...
#80 – 1990 Car of the Year
At the 1989 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, we had introduced the Lexus LS400 amid all the chaos surrounding the name. Since then we had secured the name, launched the car with rave reviews, and met our initial sales goal of 16,000. At the...
#81 – I Think I Can
Auto industry analysts forecast the 1990 luxury car market to remain flat. This meant that for Lexus to achieve our 60,000 sales goal, we needed to take sales away from the our competitors. Lexus was also trying to establish itself as the number-one...
#82 – Infiniti: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Although Nissan had announced the formation of the Infiniti division in July of 1987, a full month ahead of Toyota, it did not start selling cars until two months after Lexus. They had half as many dealers and only sold about 2,000 cars in 1989. ...
#83 – Customer First
The Lexus customer satisfaction department set up a system to call the first Lexus LS400 owners to listen to their reactions to the car and record any complaints. Each associate in the division, including myself, was given the names of customers to call. The...
#84 – Karaoke at Yuki’s
Cynthia and I were invited to Yuki Togo’s home for a dinner with the other senior Japanese and American managers and their wives. It would be the first and most memorable of all the dinners we would have at Yuki’s, who was the president of Toyota USA. It...