Akio Toyoda Steps Down as Toyota CEO

[Will1991]

I hope and think this is good news for Lexus 🤞🏼

I'm starting to think it will:

"Specifically, we will develop next-generation BEVs for Lexus brand by 2026, with everything from the battery and platform to how a car is built optimized for BEVs, while expanding our current BEV lineup.
(...)
To deliver attractive BEVs to more customers, we must streamline the structure of the car, and―with a BEV-first mindset―we must drastically change the way we do business, from manufacturing to sales and service. Lexus will lead this transformation.
(...)
Executive Vice President Kuwata, as executive vice president of Toyota Motor Kyushu, will promote Lexus' BEV business strategy and the restructuring of the production system in Kyushu, where we have a dedicated Lexus plant.
""

Source: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/38774342.html?padid=ag478_from_pickup

Finally, some indication Lexus will come first!

About those next-generation BEV's we already know somethings about it:
-> 2nd generation eAxle with around 10% more efficient motors
-> Cooling module
-> 800V for large BEV's
-> New BEV platform that needs a dedicated production line (can't be made in tandem with ICE's)

 

[qtb007]

Kinda wild, to me, what everyone thinks will fix the ills at Lexus. Lexus broke into the market as a budget, knockoff S Class. Lexus found their real audience in reliable, comfortable FWD sedans and crossovers. It wasn't what the auto mags praised, but that's what the buyers valued. For better or for worse, that's what Lexus is. I can't fault Akio for not giving resources for an LC-F, IS-F, GS, etc to Lexus. While interesting concepts, they are generally pretenders to the frontrunners of the those dying segments. And even if they were dynamically superior, they'd get dinged for being a Lexus. Trying to make Lexus into another BMW was a losing proposition.

 

[JustADude]

The only BMW like product should be made is their IS and RC. Those are their sporty products and those who look for a sport sedan would consider Lexus, IF THEY HAD NEW PRODUCTS. But it's looking like we'll get an i4 competitor in the IS. But everything else should be bread and butter fwd smooth products cause that's what sells

 

[Gor134]

Kinda wild, to me, what everyone thinks will fix the ills at Lexus. Lexus broke into the market as a budget, knockoff S Class. Lexus found their real audience in reliable, comfortable FWD sedans and crossovers. It wasn't what the auto mags praised, but that's what the buyers valued. For better or for worse, that's what Lexus is.

Lexus built their brand image on competitive Merc and BMW battling RWD products with the 1st LS, LX, SC, and later GS, and the only FWD-based model being the ES for a good minute. The whole "comfortable FWD sedans and crossovers" didn't even become commonplace past the ES until the RX 10 years later and then the CT/NX another 10 years later.

These FWD-based models, IMO, wouldn't sell well if the RWD products didn't exist in the first place to build up Lexus's image as a luxury brand. So I absolutely think that the RWD segment is still important enough to maintain Lexus's brand image, at least the LS/LX/GX/flagship coupe and IS as it's going right now.

 

[LarryT]

Kinda wild, to me, what everyone thinks will fix the ills at Lexus.

In hindsight, Akio Toyoda was a blight on Lexus & is/was nothing but a placeholder on a perch built by his great forefathers.

Lexus broke into the market as a budget, knockoff S Class. Lexus found their real audience in reliable, comfortable FWD sedans and crossovers. It wasn't what the auto mags praised, but that's what the buyers valued. For better or for worse, that's what Lexus is.

Consistently resting on your laurels while being complacent with little innovation or foresight to your competitors offerings is one of the primary reasons Lexus/Toyota is in the debacle they're in now.

I can't fault Akio for not giving resources for an LC-F, IS-F, GS, etc to Lexus

Guess you also "can't fault Akio" for helping create & launch a nearly a billion dollar commercial flop like the LFA "supercar" while letting Lexus lose cachet & fall by the wayside for over a decade by not regularly updating their lineup of vehicles in a timely manner.

 

[qtb007]

Lexus built their brand image on competitive Merc and BMW battling RWD products with the 1st LS, LX, SC, and later GS, and the only FWD-based model being the ES for a good minute. The whole "comfortable FWD sedans and crossovers" didn't even become commonplace past the ES until the RX 10 years later and then the CT/NX another 10 years later.

These FWD-based models, IMO, wouldn't sell well if the RWD products didn't exist in the first place to build up Lexus's image as a luxury brand. So I absolutely think that the RWD segment is still important enough to maintain Lexus's brand image, at least the LS/LX/GX/flagship coupe and IS as it's going right now.

The ES predated the LX, SC, and GS and I expect was the volume model from the beginning. The LS may have been the flagship, but the ES was likely the first Lexus that most people actually rode in. The RX hit in 1999 and there was no turning back. That changed the game, especially as the SC and GS ran into identity crisis in the mid 00s. The LS was a victim of changing consumer tastes and probably should have turned into a crossover in the late 00s. I'd argue that GX and LX have always been confused at what they are supposed to be. The RWD Lexus models had lost their mojo by the time Akio took over and there probably weren't any practical means to get it back.

With the rapid movement toward electrification, longitudinal versus transverse matters less by the year.

 

[LarryT]

The ES predated the LX, SC, and GS and I expect was the volume model from the beginning. The LS may have been the flagship, but the ES was likely the first Lexus that most people actually rode in.

Actually, the LS was both the "flagship & the volume model," outselling the first gen ES by a large margin.

Lexus LS (LS 400)
1991 - 36.955
1990 - 42.806
1989 - 11.574

Lexus ES
1991 - 22,476
1990 - 20.718
1989 - 4.728

 

[qtb007]

Actually, the LS was both the "flagship & the volume model," outselling the first gen ES by a large margin.

Lexus LS (LS 400)
1991 - 36.955
1990 - 42.806
1989 - 11.574

Lexus ES
1991 - 22,476
1990 - 20.718
1989 - 4.728

I'll concede that ES wasn't the volume leader from the beginning... but 1992 through 1995 the ES outsold the LS and from 1996 through the rest of the 90s the ES was typically between 2x and 3x the LS volume.

 

[Levi]

I'll concede that ES wasn't the volume leader from the beginning... but 1992 through 1995 the ES outsold the LS and from 1996 through the rest of the 90s the ES was typically between 2x and 3x the LS volume.

Shows how good the LS was selling half or a third of ES, given V8 vs V6 and the price difference between both. Want to know how many S Class sell compared to the rest of models? Probably less than 911 percentage at Porsche and even volume.

 

[CRSKTN]

I can't fault Akio for not giving resources for an LC-F, IS-F, GS, etc to Lexus.

The LFA in aluminum was scrapped for carbon fiber.
They've developed multiple high performance models you will never see.
They're developing a GT3 model and have repeatedly hinted at a build-down approach, as opposed to adapted consumer vehicle platforms applied to performance.
They have multiple secretive testing facilities.



I remember being told the story of the LFA.
Something about an engineer being asked (possibly over drinks) what they really wanted to work on.
Acting like these people don't care or aren't passionate i think speaks to the difficulty of helming something like Toyota Motor Corp.

Japan is a country with some of the longest-running companies on earth.

There is a sense of direct accountability and stewardship which guiderails a lot of what ends up happening in the company, but that just means when the machine really gets behind something, we get some pretty amazing things from it.

Nobody wants to be the one who vouched for the decisions that severly hurt an important national and cultural entity like Toyota.