Tokyo Motor Show 2019
Lexus Press Day Presentation
Lexus International President, Yoshihiro Sawa

Good morning. My name is Yoshihiro Sawa. I am the President of Lexus International. Welcome and thank you all for visiting the Lexus booth today at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Thirty years have passed since Lexus was born in the United States. Since then, the brand has continued to grow with outstanding quality, hospitality and a spirit of challenge.

Lexus has always anticipated people's needs and rolled out numerous models such as luxury SUV pioneer RX to provide luxury lifestyle experiences.

However, a somewhat shocking incident did occur that helped shift our history. It was in 2011 at Pebble Beach when we first showcased the all-new GS. One journalist commented "Lexus is boring brand". The comment shocked Akio Toyoda so much that he swore " we will never let anyone say Lexus is boring again".

Following this incident, Akio established the Lexus International company. And He himself became Chief Branding Officer as well as Master Driver to help drive bold brand and product reform. Within Lexus, we realized that our entrepreneur's challenging spirit was disappearing over the time. So, this was a renewed challenge for us.

In Akio's heart, he wants the brand to be something our customers finally choose over other luxury brands. For that, Akio strongly believe that we need to nurture gracefulness for the brand in addition to achieve high driving performance and exquisite quality.

The challenger mindset is the foundation of Lexus. The first-generation LS was born to redefine the Luxury sedan and this model surprised with high quality, comfort and overwhelming refinement.

Since the 2011 moment, Lexus has been relentlessly challenging to stimulate the five senses. We engaged to various activities to become a luxury lifestyle brand.

At this year's Tokyo Motor Show, we present "Lexus Senses Theatre", a space where people can experience the "stimulation of the five senses".

In the audio theatre, the sensual engine sound of Lexus LFA stimulates hearing. In the visual theatre, the beauty of Lexus LC , which changes its appearance according to the time of day and the viewing angle, is highlighted. Please come and enjoy this real experience.

In addition to providing experiences to customers, a luxury brand need to meet social responsibility for better future.

The vision of automobiles and mobility for a better society is being redefined. We try to offer a luxury brand that provides unique values.

The foundation of our brand activities is rooted from the concept of being "human-centered." Using advanced safety technology as an example, we constantly strive to produce higher safety standards, including easy-to-understand interfaces between humans and cars, and develop driving behavior that brings safety, security and confidence.

As a part of our achievements, we plan to launch a model equipped with Lexus Teammate, an advanced driving assist technology, in 2020.

The Lexus brand will continue to value the stimulation of the five senses and bond with the life of each one of us.

In order for us to contribute to enhancing our customer's lives, vehicles will need to keep playing a vital role. In Japan, we sometimes call our car "Aisha", which literary means "beloved car".

For Lexus, Aisha refers to our central philosophy for crafting vehicles that people are not just merely interested in and passionate about, but something that people can actually bond with.

We aim to provide vehicles that will be enjoyed and cherished, which will exceed their expectations, thereby imparting a rich lifestyle by stimulating the five senses. Lexus is unwavering in this mission.

Another message is about future electrification technologies. At Lexus, we are building upon our fundamental mission, which is to deliver higher levels of driver engagement and help incite a passion for driving, and elaborate upon it further. Finally, we aim to fundamentally change the concept of future luxury vehicles.

Lexus is already at the forefront globally as a leader in hybrid technologies. We are confident that Lexus will continue to be cutting-edge, backed by core technologies, including batteries, motors and power controls, that are essential components for electrified vehicles. Based on this idea, we came up with the name Lexus Electrified to define our brand's electrification vision.

The LF-30 Electrified is a concept car that embodies our Lexus Electrified vision. The concept car is a BEV with an automated driving function while also possessing the intuitive values of a car. This is one realization of our Yet philosophy.

We created the concept car design by realizing an advanced image expected of BEVs and incorporating the advanced technologies of connectivity and automated driving.

The Lexus LF-30 Electrified uses a new technology, we call it Lexus Advanced Posture Control. This integrates the pinnacle of electrification technologies and movement control technologies that Lexus has been developing. With precise control of the motors, the technologies enable us to realize drive-control that conventional gasoline vehicles cannot attain.

As the ultimate form, the concept car is equipped with four in-wheel-motors.

The LF-30 Electrified employs various core technologies beyond Lexus Advanced Posture Control.

To advance this goal, Lexus is developing HV, PHV, FCV other than EV to meet the needs of various regions and markets depending on their condition such as governmental policies and energy situation. We will launch such models immediately to markets like Europe and China where the needs are particularly high.

Concretely speaking, we will introduce the first Lexus EV model next month and start selling it in 2020. Then, PHV and pure EV will follow in the early half of the 2020s.

Furthermore, we will continue make advances in our core HV technologies and also continue to develop FC technology as our overall electrification strategy.

Finally, around 2025 we expect to offer an electrified variant of each model in our line-up.

As we mark this 30-year milestone, we plan to further accelerate the electrification of vehicles while providing customers with a richer lifestyle, and elevated driver engagement. Please keep watching to see what Lexus will have to offer going forward.