The Strange Connection Between Lexus and an '80s Soap Opera
The similarities between the new upscale marque and Dynasty's Alexis Carrington are more than a mere coincidence.
Toyota's F Project
Toyota considered making luxury cars seriously in 1985 and launched the F project to investigate the competition and develop their product. There was no name yet, in fact, there was no definite decision for these cars not to be Toyotas. U.S. luxury car shoppers were polled, and most did not like the idea of paying more for a car from Toyota, so new names were tried including "Apex", "Celsius" and "Alexis".
Enter Alexis Colby
The potential American buyers loved the name "Alexis" because it immediately brought to mind the wealth and sophistication of the character from "Dynasty". Joan Collins was at her peak as Alexis Carrington/Colby during the run of the show, and she always appeared in designed outfits, riding in limos, Roll Royces, or private jets. American TV audiences loved aspirational shows about the rich during the Reagan years, like "Dynasty", "Dallas, and "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."
"Too Feminine"
The executives, especially back in Japan, did not like the idea of calling their company a name shared by millions of women worldwide. Though Mercedes was one of the main companies targeted by Toyota, it did not seem to them a good idea to use a woman's name as their brand.
From Alexis to Lexus
According to internet rumors, the team brainstormed ideas using the name "Alexis". First, they realized that dropping the letter "A" from the front gave them a name that still had an upscale sound to it. "Lexis" they then realized was similar to a shortened "Luxurious", and by playing with those two words until they arrived at the "Lexus" brand name that we all now know and love.
And then the lawyers
Alexis Colby was no stranger to being sued, in the course of the series she was married to 4 different men, and there were always constant legal wranglings going on for control. Lexus was hardly out of the gate when they were hit with a lawsuit by the LexisNexis legal services company for trademark infringement. Lexus lost the first case, but on appeal the verdict was basically "So what?" with the court finding there would be no damages from a car company and a specialized legal product having similar names.
The End? Not by a long shot.
The writer on "Dynasty" was constantly trying to kill off Alexis, seemingly every few episodes or so, but she proved hard to kill. At the end of season 7, she got upset, stole the caterer's Oldsmobile and drove off a bridge into a river. Finally, at the end of the last season, she crashed through a balcony with her husband and fell to her death... Only to reappear in a reunion TV movie 3 years later. "Dynasty" was canceled just about the time Lexus hit showrooms, with their last season coinciding with the first Lexus model in 1989. Lexus, both the brand and the individual models, has proved just as hardy and hard to kill as the tough fictional woman they were sort of named after.
So we have a small screen '80s icon and the birth of a scrappy Japanese luxury brand that blossomed into what we know today.
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