Toys4RJill

LOL. Never said you did.

AJT123

haha we've had bloopers today

Toys4RJill

Yes. Lol. We did. Did you look at the door jam of the LS430?

AJT123

Yeah, actually there's nothing there other than the airbag warnings.

Lexus used to do Toyota glass but even changed glass to say Lexus.

I know you see Toyota when you start taking the car apart for brakes, etc.

SW17LS

Lexus vehicles are developed and designed separately from Toyota now, but that’s something that started in the late 2000s, the LS400 project was a unique undertaking for Toyota but it wasn’t like there were two sets of designers and engineers, there weren’t...and the depth of the investment in the LS400 was not replicated when developing other Lexus models...or the gen 3 Camry. It wasn’t even replicated when designing future versions of the LS.

Of course Toyota had a different set of stricter build tolerances and such for Lexus products, but they were/are still Toyota’s. My LS400 had Toyota stamped all over it, and even today the build sticker in the door jamb says “MANUFACTURED BY TOYOTA MOTOR CORP” (says that on every LS430 too).

That’s not a bad thing, like I said Toyota makes great cars and clearly there are tighter tolerances for a Lexus product than a Toyota product, and things Toyota learned from developing the LS were used in development of the Camry, but the Camry was not “developed as a Lexus”. It was a shared platform that was designed to have a Lexus variant, and it was a product positioned to be a stepping stone from Toyota to Lexus.

Toyota has made several very solid high end cars that of course feel like a Lexus because a Lexus is a high end Toyota. The Cressida comes to mind; the late 80s early 90s Cressidas felt very Lexus like and looked very Lexus like. Doesn’t mean they were “designed to be a Lexus”.

As for knowing the brand. I’ve owned at least one Lexus every moment of the past 21 years. I’ve owned 7. I think I know the brand a little bit.

When you make a statement like "it was designed to be a Lexus" the implication of that statement is that Toyota designed the Gen 3 Camry to be a Lexus model, and then at the last minute decided "you know what, lets make this a Toyota instead"...which isn't accurate. Thats something Toyota salesmen said in 1993 to talk people into buying a Camry. The Gen 3 Camry was always designed to be the Gen 3 Camry, it was simply designed as a platform that would include a Lexus variant in the ES300, and benefitted from things developed for the LS and things learned from designing and building the LS (which is something all Toyota models benefitted from. Which is true of the Gen 4 Camry, Gen 5 Camry on and on.

The ONLY platform that was "designed to be a Lexus" in the lineup in the 90s was the LS. You can make an argument for the SC, but its not as clear an argument as for the LS. The ES was developed off of the Camry platform, the GS was a rebadged version of Aristo which was on sale in Japan for a couple of years before they brought it here and was derived off of the Crown platform which had been around in one iteration or another for a long time.

Toys4RJill

I can't see Toyota having a set of engineers designing the Avalon, and then a whole different set of engineers designing the ES...Same with LX or Land Cruiser which carry the same platform codes since, forever. A UX uses a Corolla engine.....A GX uses parts from various Toyota models all over the place.

The Lexus SC platform was shared for the 1993 Toyota Supra. Both built in the same plant .

Just felt like doing some fact-checking. The Camry (optional V6) and ES300 of the is era have identical powertrains. So if they developed the top-spec powertrain to be used in a Lexus of that era, then also offered in the optional Camry, seems like they designed some of that Camry to be a Lexus. The Camry and Lexus ES were both Xv20 and then XV30 models

SW17LS

They actually do, Lexus design and production is entirely separate from Toyota now. Thats not unusual in the market today with shared platforms. The Aviator for example was designed entirely separate from the Explorer and the two teams were not allowed to collaborate. They were simply given the same building blocks to work from. Lexus formally spun off Lexus design sometime 10-15 years ago.

EDIT: Here you go, it was in 2005:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus#...reorganization

In 2005, Lexus completed an organizational separation from parent company Toyota,[63] with dedicated design, engineering, training, and manufacturing centers working exclusively for the division.[64][65] This effort coincided with Lexus' launch in its home market of Japan and an expanded global launch of the brand in markets such as China.[

It was developed to be the platform for the SC and the Surpa from the ground up, thats why I said it was debatable, as it wasnt a reused platform from Toyota like the GS was, but it wasn't designed exclusively for Lexus like the LS was.

Thats exactly what I said. The platform was designed to be used as the Gen 3 Camry and the Gen 2 ES (as all subsequent Camry platforms were), so sure the Camry of that era benefitted from that (as did every following Camry), but to say "The Camry was designed to be a Lexus" isn't an accurate statement. The Camry was designed to be the Camry.

Toys4RJill

But this is not true. The Toyota Celsior is the Japan version, they are the same vehicle. The original LS400 motor was never an exclusive use for Lexus...neither was the 4.3..neither was the 4.6

This is not true. There is no such thing as Lexus design studio, Calty designed the LC (also the Tundra or SC Lexus for reference) and the LC was then sent to the Toyota Technical center in Japan for final design.

AJT123

LS was what made Lexus, it was designed for the United States and thus the brand, too. Japan slapped a Toyota badge on it over there bc why not? Still the same excellent car.

It was designed for us. Lexus spent years researching what Americans liked and wanted.

SW17LS

It is true. The LS was designed from the ground up as a Lexus, it was a car 8 years in the making and Toyota invested over $1B in its development. It was sold in Japan also as the Celsior but that car was designed from the ground up to be the Lexus LS. The 1UZ V8 was absolutely designed for the LS400. Need to do some reading there.

Incorrect. Read the link I edited into my point above.

Toys4RJill

Was also designed for use in the Toyota Crown Majesta..The 4.0L was never an exclusive Lexus engine.

SW17LS

It was used in other applications but was absolutely developed for the LS.

Just google “history of the Lexus LS”. They’ve written books about this.

Toys4RJill

For use in the Lexus LS as well as other products. There are big misconceptions in that the 4.0L was only a Lexus used motor.


Still a high-end Toyota in other parts of the world. The Lexus brand never existed in the Japan market at the time, but the Toyota Celsior did exist.

SW17LS

I’ve agreed with a lot of what you’ve said here, but you’re just totally wrong about the LS sorry lol. Read.

AJT123

Yes, with the original 4.0 Lexus had 3 main goals:

1. 23MPG (avoid US gas guzzler tax)
2. 150MPH top speed (just for show, obviously)
3. I can't remember ugh. Maybe the 250hp rating.