When Toyota Motor Corp. shipped the first Lexus cars to California in 1989, most Americans were underwhelmed by what looked like made-in-Japan versions of Mercedes-Benz sedans.
"Back when it started, there were a lot of questions whether Lexus would work or not," said Dave Illingworth, a senior vice president at Toyota who was in charge of Lexus when the brand was introduced.
Within 11 years, Lexus' emphasis on delivering reliable cars and pampering customers turned it into the best-selling luxury nameplate in the United States. Now Toyota hopes to repeat that success around the world and transform the premium brand conceived for the U.S. market into a global luxury nameplate to rival the leading German marques Mercedes and BMW, whose global sales are roughly twice that of Lexus.
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