Lexus opens high-tech HQ as Toyota readies global EV blitz

TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Lexus has moved into a glitzy new global headquarters in the forested foothills of Toyota City, just in time to power its global blitz into the electric vehicle age.

The Shimoyama technical center is a sprawling R&D and design hub boasting woody cathedral ceilings, panoramic views of cypress tree-covered mountains — and all of the latest digital tools and toys needed by engineers and artists to keep Japan's top premium brand at the cutting edge.

Automotive News was given an exclusive tour of the mammoth facility, which opened in March and still has that new-building smell. Simon Humphries, Toyota Motor Corp.'s global design chief and a director on its board, said the ¥300 billion ($1.9 billion) high-tech Shimoyama site will not only revolutionize the way Lexus develops cars but speed the brand's shift into the EV era.

"This facility is what's necessary to do that," Humphries said in a July 30 interview.

At Lexus' new home, everyone involved with devising, developing, designing and deploying Lexus vehicles will be under the same roof for the first time, right next to their testing facilities. It sets up Lexus as a standalone enterprise in a departure from Japanese competitors Infiniti and Acura, which still have their operations intermixed with the parent companies' namesake brands, Nissan and Honda.

"With the amount of projects we have underway, being able to have all this together in one place is extremely important," said Humphries, a 2023 Automotive News All-Star honoree for his achievements in design. "All the tools are there for the creative process."

Crucially, the new digs are perfectly positioned to deliver on Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda's directive to "drive, break and fix" cars in a trial-by-fire approach to making them better.

The building's entire first floor is a labyrinth of garages patterned after the pits and paddock of a racetrack. With bays for 40 vehicles, it is where engineers, designers and suppliers can tinker on cars, work on prototypes and hammer out problems before buckling up and taking the vehicles for a quick spin on the test course right outside. On the July 30 tour of the tech center, a yellow Lexus LFA and yellow Lamborghini were hoisted up on lifts, side by side, for benchmarking.

Open the garage doors, and there is almost immediate access to 12 tests tracks winding around the 1,608-acre expanse. They include the main speedway serving Lexus, a grueling 3.3-mile strip of asphalt called the Country Road but better known by its nickname: Mini-Nürburgring.

Among the endeavors in July was the road testing of new body braces that will be added to all Lexus vehicles in coming updates to improve rigidity and driving dynamics.

The new approach to development, executives said, will help develop the Lexus brand image, driving signature and feel through a process known internally as "ajimigaki," Japanese for polishing the taste. The plethora of dedicated resources, they say, will also make Lexus a leader in the global EV race at a time when critics say the brand is in danger of falling behind.

Lexus will play a critical role in spearheading Toyota Motor's next-generation EVs on its way to offering an electrified option for every Lexus vehicle in 2030 and going EV-only by 2035.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s next-generation EV platform, a critical step to regaining competitiveness in EVs after a slow start, debuts in the Lexus brand from 2026. The first Lexus EVs in that series were previewed by the swept-back LF-ZC sedan and LF-ZL flagship concept models unveiled at last October's Japan Mobility Show. Lexus designers at Shimoyama use those as their North Star.

The Lexus campus is just one facility nestled into a corner of the expansive Toyota Technical Center Shimoyama. Construction of the entire site began in 2018, but the idea for the area was conceived nearly 30 years ago. Located on the outskirts of Toyota City, it is reachable from the corporate headquarters building downtown through a winding two-lane road. Perched on top of a mountain, it offers stunning vistas all the way to the Pacific Ocean on a clear afternoon.

The three-floor Lexus complex consists of two buildings that are low-slung and stretch out some 300 yards like a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie-style creation. The twin towers are also home to teams working for Toyota's Gazoo Racing motorsports and performance sub-brand division.

About 1,700 people work in the Lexus-GR facility out of some 3,000 in total throughout Shimoyama. The cafeteria alone can accommodate 1,000 workers and is also open to the public. A giant, wood-paneled hall can fit another 1,000 and is envisioned as a site for dealer meetings.

Aside from the downstairs garage, the Lexus facilities include a main floor for engineering, sales and product planning with a free-seating layout. The third floor houses the design center.

A serene hush ensconces some 45 designers busy sketching on computers in a subdued, black-ceilinged atelier stretching down the middle of the facility. Windows on either side offer overlooks into cavernous studios on either side, one for external design, the other for interior.

Lexus brand design boss Koichi Suga planned the studios with digital tools, mixed reality and virtual reality top of mind. But the space has nine vehicle plates for real-life physical models and nine autonomous clay milling machines that can be programmed to keep carving cars 24/7.

Designers and engineers can review their work in an auditorium with massive full-wall video screens big enough to simultaneously present three full-size digital vehicles, mapped with any light pattern from any region in the world. Outside, a rooftop patio with three turntables offers vehicle views under natural lighting, while a long panoramic-window wall opens into an adjacent interior review space where three more vehicles can be given the once-over in foul weather.

Previously, Lexus had to share design areas with the Toyota brand at the aging global design center next to corporate headquarters in downtown Toyota City. That crowded facility, by contrast, has only five outside turntables and about two dozen milling machines.

Setting up Lexus by itself frees design resources for both brands.

"We as a company have to make sure the designers have the tools they need and want to use, not simply have them adjust to what we want them to use," Humphries said.

Chairman Toyoda, the company's self-appointed master driver and final arbiter on all things Lexus as the so-called brand holder, took a leading role in outlining the Shimoyama vision.

At the center's grand opening, he urged workers there to draw inspiration from a recent mishap he had behind the wheel. His message: Test vehicles so aggressively that they break, then use the knowledge gained from those failures to make the products even better.

To stress the point, he spoke in front of a GR Yaris rally car with a crumpled roof and shattered windshield. Toyoda sheepish conceded he was the driver who rolled it during a test drive.

"The most important thing in carmaking is repeated driving, breaking and fixing cars," Toyoda said. "Shimoyama is a place to drive, break and fix cars repeatedly every day."