Toyota’s luxury Lexus brand will play a key role in the Japanese automaker’s EV plans. After opening its new global headquarters, is embracing an “ajimigaki” strategy to revamp the luxury brand. If you ask Google Translate, the Japanese term ajimigaki means “taste refinement” in English.
Although this is exactly what Lexus aims to do (refine the brand), it means so much more internally. After opening the doors to its in Toyota City, Japan, in March, Lexus (and Toyota) plans to use the latest tech and tools to develop “ever-better cars,” including EVs. Although it’s not a production plant, the Shimoyama Research and Development Center serves as a business and development center for Lexus and GR models.
With the “look and feel of a pit at the Nürburgring,” the site will not only speed up development but will also kick-start the brand’s transition to EVs. For the first time, Lexus can design, develop, engineer, prototype, and test cars under one roof. Toyota will use “cutting-edge digital equipment” to accelerate development and production.
During the opening ceremony, Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda said that about 3,000 people will “drive, break, and improve cars here.” Toyoda added, “The more we drive and break cars, the ever-better they become.” During an exclusive tour of the facility, Simon Humphries, Toyota’s global design chief, told that the site would revolutionize how Lexus builds cars while accelerating the luxury brands’ shift t.