--- title: Lexus · HICONIUM description: "One car, one decade of obsession — the V10 masterpiece nobody has repeated." canonical_url: https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/lexus image: https://hiconium.com/og/marque/lexus.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.com/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.com/) › [Manufacturers](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) › Lexus > On this page: [The essential Lexuss](#the-essential-lexuss) · [Every Lexus on file](#every-lexus-on-file) · [LFA](#lfa) · [A luxury marque whose collector market is centred on one 500-car V10.](#a-luxury-marque-whose-collector-market-is-centred-on-one-500-car-v10) · [Drawn once, worn ever since.](#drawn-once-worn-ever-since) ![Lexus — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/lexus.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) [Manufacturers  /  Lexus](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) # Lexus Nagoya, Japan · est. 1989 A luxury marque whose collector market is centred on one 500-car V10. The LS 400 established Lexus, but the 500-car V10 LFA carries its collector market. Nürburgring Package specification and documentary history define the hierarchy. Models 1 Top value €1.6M Period 1989– [Explore models](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/lexus#essential) [Manufacturer profile](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/lexus#house-profile) ![Lexus — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/lexus.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) Curated entry points ## The essential Lexuss Three cars that explain the manufacturer: its origins, its engineering peak and the shape of its modern ambition. [2010–2012 ### LFA The 9,000 rpm carbon V10; the Nürburgring cars lead the market. Collectibility 92 / 100 Indicative value €1.2M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/lexus/lfa) Complete catalogue ## Every Lexus on file 1 models · 1 families By family Sort ## LFA 1 The whole marque’s collectible output in one nameplate — 500 carbon-tub V10 coupés, crowned by the 50-unit Nürburgring Package. [2010–2012 · 2 variants LFA The 9,000 rpm carbon V10; the Nürburgring cars lead the market. €1.2M 36 sales · median $808.03K 92 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/lexus/lfa) The house ## A luxury marque whose collector market is centred on one 500-car V10. Lexus spent ten years and abandoned an entire aluminium chassis programme mid-stream to build the LFA in carbon instead — Toyota even wove its own carbon fibre on in-house looms. The result was a 4.8-litre V10, co-developed with Yamaha, that revs so fast the tachometer had to be digital. Its sound alone — tuned like a musical instrument — made the car a legend. Five hundred were built and sold slowly; the world caught up a decade later. The fifty Nürburgring Package cars are the apex, now trading well past a million — Japan’s definitive modern collectible alongside nothing else. Founded 1989 The LS 400 and ES 250 launched the marque in the United States that September. LFA output 500 cars LFA Works built one car per day from December 2010; the final example was completed in December 2012. LFA structure CFRP cabin Lexus said the carbon-fibre cabin was 100 kg lighter than an equivalent aluminium structure and developed its CFRP-to-metal joining process in-house. Documented sale US$1.60m RM Sotheby's sold an LFA Nürburgring Package at Monterey in August 2021; the result included buyer's premium. Selected milestones ### A bloodline, not a list. 1. 1989 The marque enters production The first LS 400 leaves Toyota's Tahara plant in May, followed by the United States launch of the LS 400 and ES 250 in September. 2. 2005 Hybrid enters the range The RX 400h goes on sale in April as the first series-production luxury hybrid. 3. 2005 The LF-A concept appears Lexus displays a two-seat, V10-powered LF-A concept, making a dedicated sports car part of the marque's public programme. 4. 2009 The production LFA is announced The production car is presented with a 4.8-litre V10, a CFRP cabin and a worldwide run fixed at 500. 5. 2010 LFA Works begins production A dedicated area at Motomachi starts assembling the LFA at a rate of one car per day. 6. 2012 The run is completed Lexus finishes the 500th LFA on 14 December after adding the circuit-focused Nürburgring Package to production that year. What defines Lexus ### Measure refinement The first LS took six years to develop, and every production car was track-tested before delivery. ### Use hybrids in series production The RX 400h put hybrid drive into the Lexus range in 2005, and the system then spread across several model lines. ### Build special projects slowly The LFA was limited to 500 cars and assembled at one car per day in a dedicated works. The mark ## Drawn once, worn ever since. Toyota launched its luxury division with nothing borrowed: new name, new dealers, new mark. Three firms pitched the badge in 1987 — Saatchi & Saatchi, Molly Designs and Hunter/Korobkin — and the drawing that won was a forward-set L inside a bevelled oval. Toyota then had the curves redrawn to a precise mathematical formula, so every plant would stamp it identically. It appeared on the LS 400 in January 1989 and has not changed since: the shortest logo history in this catalogue. Hunter/Korobkin with Molly Designs, 1987–88 1987–1989 The winning drawing: an angled L in a bevelled oval, reduced to a formula. ![Lexus crest, 1989–](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/lexus/logo-1989.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1989– In brushed metal on the LS 400 — unchanged on every Lexus since.