![]() Lexus representatives said the car would have to deliver on its promises right from the start to exceed customer expectations (GM should have been taking notes). ![]() Though very competitively priced, Toyota knew it couldn’t succeed on price alone. They knew with no luxury brand identity in a crowded marketplace, the car would have to be exceedingly competent and the ownership experience the best possible. This was no gussied up Camry (the ES would come a little later) nor even a well-massaged JDM Century or Crown, it was an all-new, no excuses assault on the flagships of the best European luxury car makers. It begins by reviewing Toyota’s strategy for their new luxury division. The excellence of the car comes through organically, in the article and in life. ![]() As glowing as the article is, it’s fairly understated, much like the Lexus itself. I don’t personally think that MT was as biased as some people do, but particularly in this era they would not tend to be as biting as Car & Driver and some others could be. That’s saying a lot given that Motor Trend has had a reputation for being, ahem, optimistic in their evaluations. Here commences possibly the most glowing car magazine review I recall ever reading. He writes, “The Lexus people felt they had nothing to hide-rather, a lot to show off. Toyota brought them to Germany, where they were given three days to drive the car, including on the Autobahn, and given comparable models of Mercedes, BMW, and Jaguar to also drive and compare the Lexus to. Motor Trend’s Jeff Karr (heck of a name for an auto writer) tells the story of Lexus’s first hands-on presentation of their new car to journalists. If your product has great quality and value? Then you just sell the product and the people will come along. If a product is not of good quality, there are a hundred tricks to divert attention from that and appeal to instinct, emotion, pride or some other time-tested method of selling people. Like these other fields, marketing can be manipulated. If it doesn’t, obfuscate, intimidate, denigrate, mandate, and definitely don’t show the data. In public affairs, if the data supports your preferred policy, go hard on the data. If it doesn’t, you write the conclusions you want and hope no one looks too closely at the data (which you can also jigger in your favor). In pharmaco/medical scientific studies, if the data supports your hypothesis, you focus on the data. If you’re weak on both, pound the table” (or the opposing counsel or the witness, depending on the version). If you’re weak on the law and strong on the evidence, pound the evidence. There’s a saying among lawyers that goes, “If you’re weak on the evidence and strong on the law, pound the law. In almost any field, if you have something to hide, there are things you can do. So, let’s look at Motor Trend’s first assessment of the soon-to-be-released 1990 LS400 from August 1989. The fact that this is a first year car and apparently one of a very small number still being daily driven made it a subject worth visiting for me, plus a Vintage Review offers some value added for loyal CC readers. I wasn’t sold on writing my car up until I ran across a 1989 article in my archive of Motor Trends and was reminded of what a significant car this was. The LS has been written about before at CC, of course. In that time, I have seen one pretty beat up example driving on the freeway and that’s it. The photos turned out just OK, but I figured, “no matter, another one will surely pop up under better photographic conditions.” Well, after two years I’m starting to doubt that any will come out of hiding for me. “Who was that masked man?” someone was heard to say. Hi Ho Silver! I got out my camera and snapped what shots I could. I made a beeline towards it, but the owner was already getting in the car and starting it up. Two years ago, walking out of Home Depot, my brain radar pinged loudly on a car parked across the lot. I’ll try to answer that question near the end of the article. Mid and late 90’s versions are still pretty common, not so the first version of this fine automobile. I’ve been noticing for a few years that I just haven’t been seeing early LS’s around much anymore. The Lexus LS400 is the sort of car my radar is always on for. There are certain landmark vehicles that us car nuts are naturally aware of.
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