Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit [Hardcover]

Chester Dawson (Author), J. Davis Illingworth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470821108 | ISBN-13: 978-0470821107 | Publication Date: September 6, 2004 | Edition: 1

A fascinating insight into how Toyota conceived, developed and launched its own luxury car brand - Lexus. This remarkable success story will explain how the Japanese giant went from zero to 25% share of the luxury car market in the space of only ten years.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Imagine a car that ran that ran quicker, quieter and offered higher quality than the best selling top-of-the-line German luxury model?and all for a sticker price of $30,000 less. That car, the Lexus LS 400, sent shockwaves throughout the world?s automotive industry when it debuted in 1989. It was Toyota Motor Corp.?s first foray into the global luxury market. And no expense was spared in its development. It took 1,400 engineers and 2,300 technicians, 450 prototypes and six years to complete the vehicle at a cost of some $1 billion. But that investment has paid off many, many times over. Within two years of its introduction, Lexus overtook Mercedes-Benz for crown of best selling luxury import brand in the U.S. and had cinched top place in J.D. Power & Associates influential ratings for quality and service. Since then, Lexus has won more J.D. Power & Associates awards than any other automotive marquee.

Yet the road to success was anything but smooth for Lexus. How did Toyota Motor come to dominate one of the most competitive, high profile and lucrative markets in the world? This book answers that question and looks at the issues Lexus now faces to stay on top. It is an important tool for anyone with an appreciation for fine autos--or just plain business smarts. Using a wealth of internal materials and interviews with key sources developed in his years as Tokyo correspondent for BusinessWeek magazine, Chester Dawson documents the growth of Lexus--from its genesis at top secret Toyota Motor board meeting in the fall of 1983 to the strategy behind an all new line-up due out over the next three years to 2007.

From the Back Cover

Toyota is the best car company in the world. From a truck-maker in World War II to a carmaker in the 1950s to a Lexus maker in the 1980s, it excels everywhere. Chester Dawson is a Japanese-speaking investigative reporter who has got the inside story of Lexus and made it come alive.- Ezra F. Vogel, Professor, Harvard University

Chester Dawson brings to life the story of Lexus. This is a tale of invention, innovation, consumer insight, dedication and resolve. Dawson tells the story with drama, vision and insider detail. He unlocks the keys to how Toyota took a vague idea and turned it into a flagship brand and a new automotive icon.- Michael Silverstein, Senior Vice President, The Boston Consulting Group

While Detroit is still trying to figure out how Toyota made Lexus the best-selling luxury brand in the United States, Chester Dawson has dissected the Lexus story in an enlightening way. Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit brings to life the personalities who brought about an automotive phenomenon. This is a must-read not only for car buffs, but for any manager or executive who wants to understand any manager or executive who wants to understand how to create, sustain and expand an elite brand.- Micheline Maynard, author of the End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost their Grip on the American Car Market

Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit takes you behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious and lucrative business strategies executed in the past 20 years.

• Learn why Toyota Motor decided to take on the German luxury brands-and how the company attacked the problem, starting with a top-secret board meeting in 1983
• Find out what drove the brand's success: the hows and whys of its unparalleled quality, those unforgettable ads and the unprecedented customer service
• Get the inside story on the birth of the luxury division, the vehicle code names and the lawsuit that almost derailed the launch of the billion dollar brand in 1989
• Discover how Lexus stumbled into its most successful line of vehicles: Luxury SUVs
• Take a virtual tour of Toyota Motor's crown jewel factories: the flagship Lexus plant in Tahara, Japan and the newest Lexus facility in Cambridge, Ontario.

This book is essential reading for automotive and business professionals!

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470821108
• ISBN-13: 978-0470821107
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,421,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful !, February 23, 2005

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit (Hardcover)

This is a great manufacturing love story in which Toyota, an automaker clearly in love with its product, decides to go after the U.S. luxury car buyer, a suitor who has repeatedly ignored its advances. To get America's attention, Toyota must first re-invent itself. It must make itself more handsome (through better styling), improve its physique (be faster, stronger and need less maintenance) and prove its financial management skill (by selling great cars for less). Because time is fleeting and the buyer has many other suitors (Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Nissan, Volvo), Toyota must work fast before its intended lover makes an irrevocable decision and buys someone else's car. Like some other love stories, this is repetitive and suffers from some plain old sloppy editing. But it makes you want to test-drive a Lexus to see what causes such a sensation. We recommend this book to CEOs and sales and marketing executives who dream of producing revolutionary, successful products for the global marketplace. And who would mind getting a little consumer love?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, May 8, 2010

By 

GSX1390R - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit (Hardcover)

This book is a must read for anyone interested Lexus or how to run a quality business.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real life in Toyota, February 5, 2008

By 

Andrea Pinnola "Lean Reader" (Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit (Hardcover)

The book accounts for the actual life of the Lexus Brand and Lexus projects, since the beginning with the strong leadership of one of the best Toyota Chief Engineer to the up and downs in the market. If you are a Toyota fan you will discover that also Toyota can fail; the difference is in how Toyota learn by its own failures and comes back.