Founded as a loom-making company over a century ago, Toyoda then became the Toyota of today that also owns the Lexus and Daihatsu brands. Its history in manufacturing has given the world 'just in time' and 'quality circle' production strategies, models for efficiency that have been adopted the world over.
Coinciding with the Milan Design Week earlier this year, Lexus announced its new strategy for design, 'L-finesse'. Pre-empted by the LF-A and LF-S show cars, L-finesse paves a way for Lexus to compete within increasingly style-conscious markets. Given this intention, do the products actually fit this strategy? To understand this better, Car Design News spoke with Toyota's Global Head of Design, Wahei Hirai, who explained that it represents a sensitivity to the Japanese culture as a means to distinguish Lexus cars.
The 'J-Factor' that he mentions is used in Japanese marketing generously to describe anything from mobile phones to hi-fis. And therein lies the avenue of their culture that Lexus seeks to exploit with L-finesse: technology.
During the launch, Toyota personnel used many product design similes to explain the new direction, and its impact on the products. The clearest came from Hirai, drawing attention to the domestic lights commissioned for the L-finesse launch. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima, 'Chandelier' employs spherically arranged LEDs to create a celestial light. Hirai points out the cleanliness of the aesthetic through the use of new technology, significantly putting his hand to it to feel the warmth. With L-finesse, he explains, the designers have tried to express Lexus' drive for new technology, representing it through tight clean surfaces, unbroken by creases et al. Though the surfaces appear flat, they have been well controlled, given enough volume to still feel 'sensual' if touched.
The 'L' in L-finesse stands for Leading Edge, but to have leading edge designs with finesse is surely the default objective of any studio, irrespective of brand, while the aforementioned considerations in surface development is arguably what designers try to do anyway.
Displayed in support of the strategy sat the new GS and an albino LF-A, accompanied by a designer describing the new way in which the former was approached, mentioning the 'beauty of contrast' with 'emotion and comfort'. Despite this, it is difficult to not see it as anything other than strictly derivative, bearing more in common with the outgoing Lexus GS than with L-finesse.
Consequently, the relationship between product and tagline remains associative, and not genetic. At the Interior Motives Design Conference held in Berlin in June, British product designer Richard Seymour raised an interesting point over companies that focus too much on technology, and that designers must put 'anthropology over technology'.
Superficially, L-finesse suggests that Lexus in leaning on a technical-look neglects the necessary anthropology, but the launch of the hybrid-powered RX400h proves their commitment to making new technology accessible. This is in line with Seymour's observation, and indeed with Hirai's intentions. There is a neat relationship between design and product strategy that has great potential to deliver holistic solutions, though currently Toyota design looks like it is overshadowed by engineering and ironically it is the latter that provides more anthropomorphic answers. Such is the excellence of the powertrain, Hirai has quite a task ahead of him to dress these impressive vehicles.
L-finesse is a tidy adjective being used to describe finished products. But on its own, the necessary depth is missing to convincingly commence the birth of one. The forthcoming Lexus IS is an attractive car, but it feels as though it could have been done with or without L-finesse. As a result, it is clear that Lexus still has some way to go before their design strategy is as strong as their production strategies.