crazy_vag

I know that most questions here deal with the actual cars, but after getting my 350, I became a little more interested in Lexus. (no surprise there).

I saw that there are two books on the history of Lexus:
1) The Lexus Story: The Behind the Scenes Story of the #1 Automotive Luxury Brand in America. Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Lexus-Story-Be...0fa116c55b08bb

2) Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit. Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Lexus-Relentle...e=UTF8&s=books

Has anyone read either of these books and could help me decide which one would be more intesting?

-Martin

ULTiMaX99

iTrader: (5)

my dealer had i think "the lexus story" book on display on the showroom floor. it's a pretty thick book n i just flipped thru it looking at all the pictures. perhaps you can goto your dealer and look thru the book to see which one you like better?

lexus27

iTrader: (1)

The lexus story book looks good (the cover) and the info inside is also an interesting read but I have not read the whole book.

If you plan on getting one, try ebay. I got two new ones for like 15 bucks each.

BobsGX

I've read each book from cover to cover. If you are into vehicle design and development, then you will enjoy the books. I did.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

i have the Lexus Story (bigass thick book) and it was well worth the $$. this thing is perfect for a coffeetable or if your genuinely interested in the birth of Lexus.

encore888

I have read both books. I got the Lexus Story first on Amazon, and a few weeks later my salesman offered me one for free! I should have waited and gotten it from him for free, lol.

The Lexus Story is beautifully photographed, and is indeed a coffee table style book complete with embedded Circle-L emblem on top. Very fascinating, a cutaway graphic of the LS, beauty shots, etc. etc. I loved how it went into the Toyota/Lexus production process, and how it went into extensive detail on the marketing research, testing methods, and overall care in the launch of the Lexus division. There are interesting 1-page asides with interviews of key players, spotlights on the award-winning ad campaigns, etc. Of course, being a corporate book (written by a NY Times writer IIRC), any criticism of the brand is muted, but I found that overall it was pretty fair. There was discussion of the dark years and the first recall, of course. Overall, it is divided up nicely in a largely chronological fashion and was a pleasure to read. I actually read the whole book in one sitting, although it was nearly encyclopedic in some details. I liked how it described the advantages of the Toyota Production process, its mold stamp methodology, and was surprised to hear about how Toyota City is organized and how modest the Toyota headquarters looked. It was also fascinating to see the Lexus corporate philosophy of dealership design, and hear the stories of how the early sales success blew everyone away, it was so surprisingly good. There was also some detail about the introduction of the SC 400, and the current manufacturing process at the top-quality Lexus factories.

The Chester Dawson book, Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit is a third-party discussion of Lexus that similarly traces how the brand began. It was written by a BusinessWeek correspondent who has lived in Japan and is familiar with the culture. I thought that this book fleshed out some details that the Lexus Story did not go into, but overall I felt it was a more indirect treatment of Lexus--whereas the Lexus Story goes in detail from insiders, the Relentless book goes for both an outsider's and insider's perspective. This book however does have a brief introduction by retired Lexus exec Carlos Illingworth Jr. which mentions the first time he saw the LS in Japan. The organization of the book sort of hops around from different time periods and perspectives, with many different section titles. There are few pictures, and some we've seen before. I also noticed a slightly elevated level of typos and sentence errors. However, this book takes a nice perspective as well. In particular it delved into the career of LS 400 enginer Ichiro Suzuki, and describes his start at TMC, the rather obsessive attitudes taken sometimes a bit far, and his rather shocking retirement moves. This book also goes into some of the sales angle a bit more, and gives some points of criticism that pierce through some of the PR bits (For instance, the LS 400 ad that said "all airbag terminals are plated in gold" which is true, but the fact is that nearly ALL vehicle airbag terminals are plated in gold, not just luxury cars). Relentless also tracks 'the dark years' a bit more closely and clearly IIRC.

I would say that both books are worthwhile for the Lexus aficiando. I treated Relentless as more of a third-party addendum to the Lexus history which has its positives (different perspective, specific details--for instance describing how Tahara was set up), but not as much of the richness of photographic and enjoyably read narrative of the launch. The Lexus Story goes into more detail about the Lexus launch, while Relentless (while having also a lot of detail on the launch) has more about some of the personalities (also some of the Toyota/Lexus USA execs), and some of the statistics behind the Lexus progression into market dominance. I think both books were good, and actually I use the Relentless book for reference in wikipedia edits more often (I got it used off of Amazon, meaning I can be a bit more casually rough with it, while the Lexus Story, being such a nice coffeetable book, is more for display or read only on special occasion).

The titles are apt: "The Lexus Story" is like a newspaper or literary magazine style feature piece, weaving a dramatic narrative with lush, large sections that describe the story of how Lexus was researched, developed, marketed, and successful from beginning to end. "Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit" uses smaller sections within chapters, moving back and forth through the history and future of Lexus to make specific points/observations about how the brand grew, its challenges, its business practices, etc. I first saw the Lexus Story at Taste of Luxury and I had to have it, and I am glad I got it. I got Relentless afterwards, and it was fascinating too.

DPRSupra

I have both books as well and for pics the Lexus Story for interesting read Lexus The Relentless Pursuit

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i have been thinking about getting the Lexus The Relentless Pursuit, from what i heard it's a better read and more objective view of lexus