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
