Behind-the-scenes: How is a Lexus made?
Yesterday, we looked at 25 world-first innovations pioneered by Lexus - engineering marvels manufactured in the name of passenger safety, driver comfort or pedestrian aid. Today, we take a look at the other side of vehicle production to find out how a Lexus is made. Most automotive companies keep their manufacturing processes a closely-guarded secret. They can't risk having rivals copy patents and jeopardise their product differentiation. Here we give you a rare behind-the-scenes insight into engineering and production techniques at Lexus that are so complex, and at times so intricate, and mostly so time-consuming, it can be credibly said no other car in the world is made like a Lexus.
With the exception of the Lexus V10 LFA supercar - which is largely hand-built - the 'Hard Way' processes, benchmarks and standards of production cuts across the entire Lexus fleet, and that includes the CT, ES, IS, NX, RX, GS, LS and LX models. Every Lexus exceeds even the most stringent standards known to the automotive industry.
Here are the 10 reasons Lexus cars are the best vehicles in the world, explained by the renowned Paul Williamsen of Lexus. If anyone knows Lexus, it's him. So I'll let him do the talking in these videos:
1. CAT-scanning every Lexus engine
"We took a deliberate route, a more difficult route perhaps, of CAT-scanning 100 percent - every single engine block - to ensure we're looking at the inside of every engine and that it's a Lexus quality engine." - Paul Williamsen
2. All Lexus vehicles have a cylinder block that is cast in aluminium
"Rather than pour molten aluminium into a mould from the top, we actually use a vacuum and draw the molten aluminium from the bottom. This gives us more consistent cast aluminium in every engine block we make." - Paul Williamsen
3. Measuring to the 1/1000th of a millimetre
"If one of the pistons is too heavy, if the dimensions are 1/1000 of a millimetre off, if one of the connected rods is too light, we'll scrap the engine, we'll disassemble it, we'll tear it down and recycle the parts and start all over again rather than trying to fix it." - Paul Williamsen
4. Sharpening the senses of even the most highly-skilled craftsmen
"The paint inspector undergoes re-certification four times a year. You compare that to pilots who have to re-certify every two years, a lawyer every three years or a medical specialist every seven years - we're re-certifying our paint people four times a year to make sure they've still got the visual acuity looking for what we need them to look at." - Paul Williamsen
5. Delivering on a promise of staggering performance
"We had to invent a loom - a special type of weaving machine - that didn't exist before" - Paul Williamsen
6. Eleven different tests to ensure the highest grade of leather
"With all this attention to detail at the very earliest stage, we're helping to ensure we've got the highest grade of leather, that we've prepared it in the best possible ways, and that it will stay that way throughout the entire ownership cycle of the vehicle." - Paul Williamsen
7. Insisting on a single piece of wood
"There could be three or four different craftsmen that get these individual pieces of wood. They prepare, and they come back numbered and sequenced to get reassembled into the final vehicle. It's a very complicated process but it's that extra effort we go to, to make each interior unique and to make each interior consistent." - Paul Willamsen
8. Collecting data about a vehicle even before it's a vehicle
"We took the extra effort to use computer-aided crash testing early in the process so that we're not so much guessing at that stage; we've got a very high level of confidence that the vehicle will perform in the ways the engineers want it to perform" - Paul Williamsen
9. Exposing every car to high levels of radiation
"We're testing not just at milliwatts or thousandths of a watt; we're testing at tens or hundreds of watts of radiation. We're always anticipating future devices that would be there in the future. It gives us the confidence to know that our vehicles will work correctly in the environment regardless of the EMI that surrounds it." - Paul Williamsen
10. Building the most advanced driving simulator on Earth
"It actually moves laterally, it can move fore and aft, and side-to-side over a range as big as a football field. This allows it to create very convincing levels of cornering and handling at simulated speeds over 180 mph." - Paul Williamsen
Pretty amazing, isn't it? We take so much for granted, little knowing so much went in the background to make a Lexus, a Lexus.
There's only one way to engineer a Lexus.
The hard way.
Cheers!
All Lexus
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