The Lexus Evolution

How an automaker known for comfort and luxury became a performance powerhouse...

- Keith Gordon

It was a peaceful day in the German countryside in the late summer of 2011, with birds chirping in the trees overhead and only a muted, rumbling whir in the distance. At the Nürburgring, the mecca of automotive testing and development, all was calm. But what began as a distant rumble soon edged closer and turned into the sharp-pitched shriek of a high-revving Formula 1 racecar approaching at speed.

As the thunder finally peaked and the car crested the ridge, streaking toward the final set of turns on the notoriously difficult — and dangerous — racetrack, it became clear this was no routine run: The car set the record for a production vehicle, clocking in at an astounding seven minutes and 14 seconds. In a twist, this wasn’t a Formula 1 car, or a specialised Ferrari stripped down for track days. Instead, it was a Lexus LFA, the crowning glory for the design team, which had set out to reshape what people thought of when they heard the brand’s name.

Performance of this kind is not what most observers would expect from a Lexus, a company known for luxury, comfort, and reliability, if not necessarily excitement. Automotive journalist and TV host Jeremy Clarkson once described the experience behind the wheel of a Lexus as similar to “sitting in a bucket of warm wallpaper paste, reading a Jane Austen novel.” Brian Bolain, Lexus’ general manager of product and consumer marketing, who was with Lexus at its conception and rejoined the company again in 2005, doesn’t dispute this appraisal.